James Ivory, Lord Ivory

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1792 – 1866), was a Scottish judge.

Life

The son of Thomas Ivory, watchmaker and engraver, he was born in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

on 29 February 1792. His family lived and ran a business from the High Street in Dundee Sir James Ivory the mathematician was his uncle, and James Ivory, the watchmaker was his grandfather. After attending Dundee Academy he studied for the legal profession at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

was admitted as a member of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

in 1810, and in that year was enrolled as a burgess of Dundee. When, in 1819, the select committee of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

was engaged in making inquiries into the state of the Scottish burghs, Ivory was examined with reference to the municipal condition of Dundee, and strongly advocated for the abolition of self-election, which was then prevalent in the town councils of Scotland, and continued in force until 1833. Ivory was chosen as

advocate depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecutor, prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by Charles III of the United Kingd ...

Francis Jeffrey Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (23 October 1773 – 26 January 1850) was a Scottish judge and literary critic. Life He was born at 7 Charles Street near Potterow in south Edinburgh, the son of George Jeffrey, a clerk in the Court of Sessio ...

Lord advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

, in 1830; three years later he was appointed

Sheriff of Caithness The Sheriff of Caithness was historically the royal official responsible for enforcing law and order in Caithness, Scotland. The sheriffdom of Caithness appears to have been created in the mid 12th century and to have been dissolved and incorpor ...

, and in 1834 was transferred to a similar office in

Buteshire The County of Bute (), also known as Buteshire, is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. Now replaced by Argyll and Bute for the Isle of Bute, with the Argyll and Bute Council. The Isle of Arran and The Cumbraes are now ...

, from which he resigned in 1838. He was Solicitor-General for Scotland under Lord Melbourne's ministry in 1839, was made a Lord Ordinary of Session the following year, and sat as judge in the Court of Exchequer. In 1839 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of the City of Edinburgh. In 1848 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposer was James Russell. In 1849 he was appointed a lord of justiciary (taking the title of Lord Ivory), and served both in the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

and the

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary () is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff C ...

until his retirement in October 1862. For several years before that date he was the senior judge of both courts. As a lawyer Ivory was distinguished by the subtlety of his reasoning, his minuteness of detail, and profound erudition. He was not a fluent orator, but in the early part of his career, when legal argument was conducted in writing, be obtained a high reputation. Ivory died at his Edinburgh home of 9 Ainslie PlaceEdinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1865-66 on 18 October 1866. He is buried in

New Calton Cemetery New Calton Burial Ground is a burial ground in Edinburgh. It was built as an overspill and functional replacement to Old Calton Burial Ground and lies half a mile to its east on Regent Road in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the south-east slopes of Ca ...

in its north-west section.

Family

In 1817 he married Ann Laurie (d.1869), a daughter of Alexander Lawrie, deputy gazette writer for Scotland. His fourth son, William Ivory, was sheriff of Inverness-shire. Another son Francis Jeffery Ivory (presumably named after lord advocate Francis Jeffrey) migrated to

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Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

where he became a Member of both the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

and the

Queensland Legislative Council Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivory, James 1792 births 1866 deaths

Ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

Members of the Faculty of Advocates People from Dundee People educated at the High School of Dundee Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Burials at the New Calton Burial Ground Burgesses in Scotland Solicitors general for Scotland Scottish sheriffs 19th-century Scottish judges