Rt Hon John, of Glencorse, Lord President of the Court of Session

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"John Inglis, Lord Glencorse FRSE (21 August 1810 – 20 August 1891) was a Scottish politician and judge. He was Lord President of the Court of Session (1867–1891).

The youngest son of John Inglis, a Church of Scotland minister, Inglis was born in August 1810 in Edinburgh, where he attended the Royal High School. From the University of Glasgow he went to Balliol College, Oxford. He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1835, and in 1852 he was made Solicitor General for Scotland in Lord Derby's first ministry, three months later becoming Lord Advocate, a post he held from May to December of that year. In the summer of 1857, he famously served as counsel for Madeleine Smith, a Glasgow socialite who was the defendant in a sensational murder trial. Smith was freed with a verdict of "not proven".

In March 1858 he resumed this office in Lord Derby's second administration, being returned to the House of Commons as member for Stamford. Again his tenure was brief, leaving office in July 1858. He was responsible for the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858, and in the same year he was elevated to the bench as Lord Justice Clerk, with the judicial title Lord Glencorse. In 1867 he was made Lord Justice General of Scotland and Lord President of the Court of Session. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1859, and awarded a Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Oxford in 1859.

Outside his judicial duties he was responsible for much useful public work, particularly in the department of higher education. In 1869 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh against Gladstone, having already been Rector of the University of Aberdeen in 1857–1860 and Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1865. He died in August 1891.

He was President of Scottish Texts Society and published Historical Study of Law 1863."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'John Inglis, Lord Glencorse', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 November 2012, 22:36 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Inglis,_Lord_Glencor...> [accessed 16 March 2013]