BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 21
practice at the bar having become so great that he was unable to continue the
duty of the chair.
In 1788 he was appointed Sheriff-Depute of the county of Renfrew; and,
on the death of Lord Abercromby in 1796, promoted to the bench by the title
of Lord Meadowbank In 1804, on the resignation of Lord Methven, he was
constituted one of the Lords of Justiciary. In both of these judicial capacities
he conducted himself with the greatest ability.
In politics, Lord Meadowbank was decidedly of the Pitt and Dundas school,
or, in other words, a Tory; but his was an enlightened attachment to the constitution,
springing from judicious and comprehensive views of social and
political economy.' When trial by jury-the bulwark of the subject's libertywas
proposed to be introduced into Scotland, Lord Meadowbank evinced the
soundness and liberality of his sentiments by warmly advocating the measure.
He wrote an excellent pamphlet on the subject, entitled '' Considerations on the
Introduction of Trial by Jury in Scotland ;'I and in 1815, when the Jury Court
was instituted, he was appointed one of the Lords-Commissioners.
Amid the multifarious duties arising from official engagements, Lord Meadowbank
still found leisure to continue his acquaintance with literature and the
progress of the sciences, of which he was a warm promoter. He was one of the
earliest members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to which he contributed
several valuable papers, and was for many years Vice-President. He was likewise
one of the Directors of the Astronomical Institution.
Like many of his contemporaries, Lord Meadowbank was a keen agriculturist;
and to his ingenious speculations and inquiries into this important science the
country is indebted for the invention of moss mhure, now extensively employed
in various counties in Scotland.'
The character of Lord Meadowbank as a judge has been recently given by
one in every way qualified to form a just and impartial estimate of his merits.
" Above all," said Lord Brougham, in deciding a recent cme in the House of
Lords (Inglis v. Mansfield, 10th April 1835), " we have, what with me is of
the highest authority and of the greatest weight, the very valuable opinion of
the late Lord Meadowbank, one of the best lawyers-one of the most acute
men-a man of large general capacity, and of great experience-and with
hardly any exception, certainly with very few exceptions, if any-the most
diligent judge one can remember in the practice of the Scotch
Lord Meadowbank died on the 14th of June 1816, in the sixty-ninth year
of his age.' In 1792, prior to his elevation to the bench, he resided in what
was then No. 33 Hanover Street. His lordship left several children, the eldest
of whom was raised to the bench under the same title of Lord Meadowbank.
'
. See his opinion in the case of Andrew w. Murdoch, 1806.
His lordship printed, for private distribution, a tract on the subject.
Shaw an4 Maclean's Reports in the House of Lords, 1835.
For interesting notices of this judge see Cockbum's MmOriaZs of hi9 Time, and his fife of
Buchanan's Reports.
Jofrey.