Selected Bibliography:
Sir James Dalrymple,
1st Viscount Stair
(1619-1695)
Last revised 21 October 1999
- Hector McKechnie, ed., An Introductory Survey of the
Sources and Literature of Scots Law (Edinburgh: The Stair
Society, 1939).
- David M. Walker, ed., Stair Tercentenary Studies
(Edinburgh: The Stair Society, 1981): 253-59.
Individual Works
- The Institutions of the Law of Scotland:
- The Institutions of the Law of Scotland Deduced from Its
Originals, and Collated with the Civil, Canon and Feudal Laws,
and with the Customs of Neighbouring Nations (Edinburgh,
1681). The first edition.
- The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, 5th ed., ed.
John Schank More, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1832). Long the standard
edition.
- The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, ed. David M.
Walker (Edinburgh and Glasgow: Univ. Presses of Edinburgh and
Glasgow, 1981). A critical, annotated edition is still needed.
- Decisions of the Lords of Council and Session in the Most
Important Cases Debated before Them, 2 vols. (Edinburgh,
1683-87).
- Physiologia Nova Experimentalis (Leiden, 1686).
- A Discourse concerning the Nature, Power and Proper
Effects of the Present Conventions in Both Kingdoms, Called by
the Prince of Orange (London, 1689).
- A Political Conference between Aulicus, a Courtier; Demas,
a Countryman; and Civicus, a Citizen (London, 1689).
- Plain Dealing: Being a Moderate General Review of the
Scots Prelatical Clergies Proceedings in the Latter Reigns
(1689).
- A Vindication of the Proceedings of the Convention of
Estates in Scotland (London, 1689).
- A Farther Vindication of the Present Government of the
Church of Scotland, Established in a Presbyterian Polity
(London, 1690).
- An Apology for Sir James Dalrymple of Stair, President of
the Court of Session, by Himself (1690). Bannatyne Club
Publications No. 12, 1825. There are said to have been two 1690
versions: one for England recommending Episcopalianism for
Scotland; and one for Scotland, supporting Presbyterianism.
- Vindication of the Divine Perfections (London, 1695).
Correspondence
- J. M. Graham, ed., Annals and Correspondence of the
Viscount and First and Second Earls of Stair (Edinburgh,
1875).
Archives
- There are MSS of the Institutions, in 1662 and 1664
stems: National Library of Scotland: Adv. MS 24.2.10, Adv. MS
25.1.5, Adv. MS 25.1.11, Adv. 25.1.12, Adv. MS 25.4.17; National
Library of Scotland MS 5434, MS 7116.
- Anon. (Robert Ferguson?), The Late Proceedings and Votes
of the Parliament of Scotland (Glasgow, 1689). A sustained
invective directed at Stair.
- William Forbes, "Character of Stair," in Preface to
Journal of the Session containing . . . Decisions Feb.
1705-Nov. 1713 (Edinburgh, 1714), xxxviii-xl. A eulogy
derived from Stair's Apology (1690), in which Stair
defends his career.
- George Brunton and David Haig, An Historical Account of
the Senators of the College of Justice (Edinburgh, 1732),
360-72. The standard work on the professional careers of
Scotland's supreme civl court judges.
- A. J. G. Mackay, Memoir of James Dalrymple, First Viscount
Stair (Edinburgh, 1873). A critical biography supplemented by
current research on Stair's Scotland and its leading
personalities is much needed.
- J. L. Duncan, The Life and Times of Viscount Stair,
Juridical Review 46 (1934): 103ff.
- J. M. Hutton, "Stair's Public Career," in Stair
Tercentenary Studies, ed. David M. Walker (Edinburgh: The
Stair Society, 1981), 1-68.
Overviews
- D. M. Walker, "Introduction," in The Institutions of the
Law of Scotland, ed. David M. Walker (Edinburgh and Glasgow:
Univ. Presses of Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1981), 1-58.
- D. M. Walker, The Scottish Jurists (Edinburgh, 1985),
106-57.
- D. M. Walker, A Legal History of Scotland (Edinburgh,
1996), 4:361-68.
- James Cameron, "The Tercentenary of Stair's
Institutions," Juridical Review, (Dec. 1981):
101-109.
Collections and Festschriften
- Stair Tercentenary Studies, ed. David M. Walker
(Edinburgh: The Stair Society, 1981). Contains:
- D. M. Walker, "The Background of the Institutions,"
pp. 69-78.
- G. M. Hutton, "Stair's Aim in Writing the
Institutions," pp. 79-87.
- G. M. Hutton, "Stair's Philosophic Precursors," pp. 87-99.
- D. M. Walker, "The Structure and Patern of the
Institutions," pp. 100-105.
- W. M. Gordon, "Roman Law as a Source," pp. 107-12.
- J. J. Robertson, "Canon Law as a Source," pp. 112-27.
- A. J. Carty, "The Law of Nature and Nations as a Source," pp.
127-36.
- J. M. Halliday, "Feudal Law as a Source," pp. 136-40.
- W. D. H. Sellar, "English Law as a Source," pp. 140-50.
- D. M. Walker, "The Content of the Institutions," pp.
152-79.
- P. G. Stein, "Theory of Law," pp. 181-87.
- D. N. MacCormick, "Stair as an Analytical Jurist," pp.
187-99.
- G. C. H. Paton, "Comparison between the Institutions
and Other Scottish Institutional Writing," pp. 201-207.
- J. W. G. Blackie, "Stair's Later Reputation as a Jurist," pp.
207-27.
- F. H. Lawson, "Stair from an English Standpoint," pp. 227-39.
- K. Luig, "Stair from a Foreign Standpoint," pp. 239-50.
- D. M. Walker, "Stair's Contribution to Scots Law," pp.
250-52.
Single Topics
- Archibald Campbell, The Structure of Stair's
"Institutions" (Glasgow, 1954). A seminal study.
- T. M. Cooper (Lord Cooper of Culross), "Stair the Scientist,"
Juridical Review 67 (1955): 233-25. A brief examination
of Stair's knowledge of science revealed in his Physiologia
Nova Experimentalis.
- J. M. Hutton, "The Political Thought of Viscount Stair,"
unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Birmingham, 1971.
- W. M. Gordon, "Stair, Grotius and the Sources of Stair's
Institutions," in Satura Roberto Feenstra Oblata,
ed. J. A. Ankum, J. E. Spruit, and F. B. J. Wubbe (Friburg,
1975), 571ff.
- W. M. Gordon, "Stair's Use of Roman Law," in Law Making
and Law Makers, ed. A. Harding (London, 1980), 120ff.
- D. N. MacCormick, "The Rational Discipline of Law,"
Juridical Review (Dec. 1981): 146-60.
- H. David, "Deux Contemporaines: Stair et Domat," Juridical
Review (1982): 68-85.
- J. D. Ford, "Stair's Title 'Of Liberty and Servitude,'" in
The Roman Law Tradition, ed. A. D. E. Lewis and D. J.
Ibbetson (Cambridge, 1994), 135ff.
- D. L. C. Miller, "Stair's Property: A Romanist System,"
Juridical Review (1995): 70-81.
- J. W. Cairns, "The Civil Law Tradition in Scottish Legal
Thought: Stair," in The Civilian Tradition and Scots Law,
ed. D. L. C. Miller and R. Zimmerman (Berlin: Duncker &
Humblot, 1997), 204-206.
- D. M. Walker, "The Importance of Stair's Work for the Modern
Lawyer," Juridical Review (Dec. 1981): 161-76.
- H. L. MacQueen, "Stair's Later Reputation as a Jurist: The
Contribution of William Forbes," in The Stair Society:
Miscellany Three, ed. W. M. Gordon (Edinburgh: The Stair
Society, 1992), 173-94.
Please send comments and corrections to biblio@c18.org.