Alexander Bayne of Rires (c. 1675 – June 1737) was the first tenant of the chair of Scots law in 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 ...

Life

Bayne was the son of John Bayne of Logie, Fife, to whom he was served heir in general on 8 October 1700, and descended from the old family of 'Bayne of Tulloch', Dingwall, Rosshire. He was admitted advocate on 10 July 1714, but seems to have had little or no practice. In January 1722 Bayne was appointed curator of the

Advocates' Library The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the law library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an Act of Parliament the National Library of Scotland ...

, and on the establishment of the chair of Scots law in the university of Edinburgh in the same year the town council elected him to fill it. Early in 1726 he retired from the office of curator of the Advocates' Library. In June 1737 he died.

Works

In 1726 Bayne published an edition of Sir Thomas Hope's ''Minor Practicks''. He appended a ''Discourse on the Rise and Progress of the Law of Scotland and the Method of Studying it''. In 1730 he published ''Institutions of the Criminal Law of Scotland'' (Edinburgh), for the use of students attending his lectures, and in 1731 ''Notes for the Use of Students of the Municipal Law in the University of Edinburgh, being a Supplement to the Institutes of

Sir George Mackenzie Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh (1636 – May 8, 1691) was a Scottish lawyer, Lord Advocate, essayist and legal writer. Early life Mackenzie, who was born in Dundee, was the son of Sir Simon Mackenzie of Lochslin (died c. 1666) and Elizabe ...

''.

Family

Bayne married Mary, daughter of Anne, the only surviving child of

Sir William Bruce Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (c. 1630 – 1 January 1710), was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes.Colvin, p.172–176 As a key figure in introduc ...

of Kinross, by her second husband, Sir John Carstairs of Kilconquhar, by whom he had three sons and two daughters. One of his daughters became the first wife of Allan Ramsay the painter and son of the poet.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayne, Alexander Year of birth missing 1737 deaths Academics of the University of Edinburgh