William Murray Gloag (15 March 1865 – 5 February 1934) was a Scottish lawyer and academic. His ''The Law of Contract'', first published in 1914, is considered one of the most authoritative texts on Scots contract law. His two immediate successors in the Regius Chair of Law at Glasgow University described him as "the outstanding jurist of the century" and "the most remarkable legal scholar who has ever held this Chair".

Andrew Dewar Gibb Andrew Dewar Gibb MBE QC (13 February 1888 – 24 January 1974) was a Scottish advocate, barrister, professor and politician. He taught law at Edinburgh and Cambridge, and was Regius Professor of Law at the University of Glasgow 1934–1958.

in a Quincentenary Lecture at Glasgow University, cited in

Early life

Gloag was born in Edinburgh in 1865, the son of

William Ellis Gloag William Ellis Gloag, Lord Kincairney (7 February 1828 – 8 October 1909) was a Scottish judge. Life Born in Perth on 7 February 1828, he was son of William Gloag, a banker in Perth, by his wife Jessie, daughter of John Burn, writer to the Signe ...

, Lord Kincairney, a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session); ...

from 1889 to 1905. He was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...

and studied at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, graduating with a first-class degree in modern history in 1888. He then studied at the

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and began practice as an advocate in 1889.

Career

Gloag lectured on Procedure and Evidence at the University of Edinburgh from 1902 until 1905, when he was appointed Regius Professor of Law at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He was made a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1909. Alan Rodger, in a biographical note, describes him as "an inspired teacher" who "spoke without notes and sprinkled his trenchant remarks with a dry wit". Whilst Regius Professor, he published his two most influential works: ''Law of Contract'' (1914) and ''Introduction to the Law of Scotland'' with R Candish Henderson (1927). The 13th edition of ''Gloag and Henderson'', as it is known, was published in 2012, with

Hector MacQueen Hector Lewis MacQueen (born 1956) is a Scottish academic, a senior scholar of Scots law and legal history, and a former member of the Scottish Law Commission. He is Professor of Private Law at the University of Edinburgh and a former Dean of i ...

as the lead author. Gloag did, John Blackie has observed, "write an awfully large amount of legal literature... the total length of the books in which ewas sole or joint author with another comes to 2302 pages. There were no word processors. And he was disabled in one arm." (Despite this disability, Gloag was an accomplished golfer who achieved a hole in one at the Senate Match between the Universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen in 1907.) Whilst Regius Professor, Gloag lived at No. 3 The Square, in the houses which were formerly home to professors of the university. He served as Dean of the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

from 1907 to 1909, and established the student

Law Society A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated ...

, which continues to exist today. He was appointed

in 1909, and was awarded an honorary LLD by the University of Edinburgh in 1915. He died on 5 February 1934.

Publications

*''The Law of Rights in Security, Heritable and Movable'', with J M Irvine, 1897 *''The Law of Contract: A Treatise on the Principles of Contract in the Law of Scotland'', 1914, 2nd edition, 1929 *''Carmina Legis: or Verses Illustrative of the Law of Scotland'', 1920 *''Introduction to the Law of Scotland'', with R Candish Henderson, 1927

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gloag, William Murray 1865 births 1934 deaths Lawyers from Edinburgh People educated at Edinburgh Academy Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Members of the Faculty of Advocates Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Glasgow 20th-century King's Counsel Scottish legal scholars