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STAIR, JAMES DALRYMPLE

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 762 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STAIR, See also:JAMES DALRYMPLE , 1st See also:VISCOUNT (1619-1695), Scottish lawyer and statesman, was See also:born in May 1619, at Drummurchie in See also:Ayrshire. He was descended from a See also:family for several generations inclined to the principles of the See also:Reformation, and had ancestors both on the See also:father's and the See also:mother's See also:side amongst the See also:Lollards of Kyle. His father, James Dalrymple, See also:laird of the small See also:estate of Stair in Kyle, died when he was an See also:infant; his mother, See also:Janet See also:Kennedy of Knockdaw, is described as " a woman of excellent spirit," who took care to have him well educated. From the See also:grammar school at See also:Mauchline he went, in 1633, to the university of See also:Glasgow, where he graduated in arts on the 26th of See also:July, 1637. Next See also:year he went to See also:Edinburgh, probably with the intention of studying See also:law, but the troubles of the times, then approaching a crisis, led him to See also:change his course, and we next find him serving in the See also:earl of See also:Glencairn's See also:regiment in the See also:War of the See also:Covenant. What See also:part he took in it is not certainly known, but he was in command of a See also:troop when recalled in 1641 to compete for a regency (as a tutorship or professorship was then called) in the university of Glasgow., He was elected in See also:March. See also:Mathematics, See also:logic, See also:ethics and politics were the See also:chief subjects of his lectures, and a notebook on logic by one of his students has been pre-served. His activity and skill in matters of See also:college business were praised by his colleagues, who numbered amongst them some of the leading Covenanting divines, and his zeal in teaching was gratefully acknowledged by his students. After nearly seven years' service he resigned his regency, and removed to Edinburgh, where he was admitted to the See also:bar on the 17th of See also:February 1648. This step had probably been rendered easier by his See also:marriage, four years before, to See also:Margaret See also:Ross, co-heiress of Balneil in VVigtown. Stair's practice at the bar does not appear to have been large; his talents See also:lay rather in the direction of learning and business than of See also:oratory or advocacy. His reputation and the confidence reposed in him were shown by his See also:appointment in 1649 as secretary to the See also:commission sent to the See also:Hague to treat with See also:Charles II. by the See also:parliament of See also:Scot-See also:land.

The negotiation having been broken off through the unwillingness of the See also:

young See also:king to accept the terms of the See also:Covenanters, Stair was again sent in the following year to See also:Breda, where the failure of See also:Montrose's expedition forced Charles to change his attitude and to return to See also:Scotland as the covenanted king. Stair had preceded him, and met him on his landing in See also:Aberdeenshire, probably carrying with him the See also:news of the See also:execution of Montrose, which he had witnessed. During the See also:Commonwealth Stair continued to practise at the bar; but like most of his brethren he refused in 1654 to take the See also:oath of See also:allegiance to the Commonwealth. Three years later, on the See also:death of See also:Lord Balcomie, Stair was appointed one of the commissioners for the See also:administration of See also:justice in Scotland, on the recommendation of See also:Monk. His appointment to the See also:bench on the 1st of July 1657, by Monk, was confirmed by See also:Cromwell on the 26th. Stair's association with the See also:English See also:judges at this See also:time must have enlarged his acquaintance with English law, as his travels had extended his knowledge of the See also:civil law and the See also:modern See also:European systems which followed it. He thus acquired a singular See also:advantage when he came to write on law, regarding it from a See also:cosmopolitan, or See also:international, rather than a merely See also:local or See also:national point of view. His actual See also:discharge of judicial See also:duty at this time was See also:short, for after the death of Cromwell the courts in Scotland were shut—a new commission issued in 166o not having taken effect, it being uncertain in whose name the commission ought to run. It was during this See also:period that Stair became intimate with Monk, who is said to have been advised by him when he See also:left Scotland to See also:call a full and See also:free parliament. Soon after the Restoration Stair went to See also:London, where he was received with favour by Charles, knighted, and included in the new nomination of judges in the See also:court of session on the 13th of February 1661. He was also put on various important commissions, busied himself with local and agricultural affairs, and, like most of the Scottish judges of this and the following See also:century, acted with zest and See also:credit the part of a See also:good See also:country See also:gentleman. In 1662 he was one of the judges who refused to take the See also:declaration that the national covenant and the See also:solemn See also:league and covenant were unlawful oaths, and, See also:forestalling the deposition which had been threatened as the See also:penalty of continued non-compliance, he placed his resignation in the king's hands.

The king, however, summoned him to London, and allowed him to take the declaration under an implied See also:

reservation. The next five years of Stair's See also:life were comparatively uneventful, but in 1669 a family calamity, the exact facts of which will probably never be ascertained, overtook him. His daughter Janet, who had been betrothed to Lord See also:Rutherfurd, was married to See also:Dunbar of Baldoon, and some tragic incident occurred on the See also:wedding See also:night, from the effects of which she never recovered. As the traditions vary on the central fact, whether it was the See also:bride who stabbed her See also:husband, or the husband who stabbed the bride, no See also:credence can be given to the See also:mass of superstitionsand spiteful See also:slander which surrounded it, principally levelled at See also:Lady Stair.' In r67o Stair served as one of the Scottish commissioners who went to London to treat of the See also:Union; but the project, not seriously pressed by Charles and his ministers, See also:broke down through a claim on the part of the Scots to what was deemed an excessive See also:representation in the See also:British parliament. In See also:January 1671 Stair was appointed See also:president of the court of session. In the following year, and again in 1673, he was returned to parliament for See also:Wigtownshire, and took part in the important legislation of those years in the See also:department of private law. During the See also:bad time of See also:Lauderdale's See also:government Stair used his See also:influence in the privy See also:council and with See also:Lauder-See also:dale to mitigate the severity of the orders passed against ecclesiastical offenders, but for the most part he abstained from attending a See also:board whose policy he could not approve. In 1679 he went to London to defend the court against charges of partiality and injustice which had been made against it, and was thanked by his brethren for his success. When, in the following year, the See also:duke of See also:York came to Scotland Stair distinguished himself by a bold speech, in which he congratulated the duke on his coming amongst a nation which was entirely See also:Protestant. This speech can have been little relished, and the duke was henceforth his implacable enemy. His influence prevented Stair from being made See also:chancellor in 168r, on the death of the duke of See also:Rothes. The parliament of this year, in which Stair again sat, was memorable for two statutes, one in private and the other in public law.

The former, See also:

relating to the testing of deeds, was See also:drawn by Stair, and is sometimes called by his name. The other was the infamous Test See also:Act, probably the worst of the many See also:measures devised at this period with the See also:object of fettering the See also:conscience by oaths. Stair also had a See also:minor See also:share in the See also:form which this law finally took, but it was confined to the insertion of a See also:definition of " the Protestant See also:religion "; by this he hoped to make the test harmless, but his expectation was disappointed. Yet, self-contradictory and absurd as it was, the Test Act was at once rigidly enforced. See also:Argyll, who declared he took it only in so far as it was consistent with itself and the Protestant religion, was tried and condemned for See also:treason and narrowly saved his life by escaping from Edinburgh See also:Castle the See also:day before that fixed for his execution. Stair, dreading a similar See also:fate, went to London to seek a See also:personal interview with the king, who had more than once befriended him, perhaps remembering his services in See also:Holland; but the duke of York intercepted his See also:access to the royal See also:ear, and when he returned to Scotland he found a new commission of judges issued, from which his name was omitted. He retired to his wife's estate in See also:Galloway, and occupied himself with preparing for the See also:press his See also:great See also:work, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, which he published in the autumn of 1681, with a See also:dedication to the king. He was not, however, allowed to pursue his legal studies in peaceful retirement. His wife was charged with attending conventicles, his See also:factor and tenants severely fined, and he was himself not safe from See also:prosecution at any moment. A fierce dispute arose between Claverhouse and Stair's son, See also:John, See also:master of Stair, relative to the regality of Glenluce; and, both having appealed to the privy council, Claverhouse, as might have been expected, was absolved from all the charges brought against him and the master was deprived of the regality. Stair had still powerful See also:friends, but his opponents were more powerful, and he received See also:advice to quit the country. He repaired to Holland in See also:October 1684, and took up his See also:residence, along with his wife and some of his younger See also:children, at See also:Leiden.

While there he published the Decisions of the Court of Session between 1666 and 1671, of which he had kept a daily See also:

record, and a small See also:treatise on natural See also:philosophy, entitled Physiologia nova experimentalis. In his See also:absence a prosecution for treason was raised against ' See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott took the See also:plot of his Bride of Lammermoor from this incident, but he disclaimed any intention of making Sir See also:William See also:Ashton a portrait of Lord Stair. 762 him and others of the exiles by Sir G. See also:Mackenzie, the lord See also:advocate. He was charged with See also:accession to the See also:rebellion of 1679, the See also:Rye See also:House plot, and the expedition of Argyll. With the first two he had no connexion; with Argyll's unfortunate See also:attempt he had no doubt sympathized, but the only See also:proof of his complicity was slight, and was obtained by See also:torture. The proceedings against him were never brought to an issue, having been continued by successive adjournments until 1687, when they were dropped. The cause of their See also:abandonment was the appointment of his son, the master of Stair, who had made his See also:peace with James II., as lord advocate in See also:room of Mackenzie, who was dismissed from See also:office for refusing to relax the penal See also:laws against the See also:Roman Catholics. The master only held office as lord advocate for a year, when he was " degraded to be justice clerk "—the king and his advisers finding him not a See also:fit See also:tool for their purpose. Stair remained in Holland till the following year, when he returned under happier auspices in the See also:suite of William of See also:Orange. William, who had made his acquaintance through the See also:pensionary Fagel, was ever afterwards the See also:firm friend of Stair and his family. The master was made lord advocate; and, on the See also:murder of See also:Lockhart of Carnwath in the following year, Stair was again placed at the See also:head of the court of session.

An unscrupulous opposition, headed by See also:

Montgomery of Skelmorlie; who coveted the office of secretary for Scotland, and Lord Ross, who aimed at the See also:presidency of the court, sprang up in the Scottish parliament; and an See also:anonymous pamphleteer, perhaps Montgomery himself or See also:Ferguson the Plotter, attacked Stair in a pamphlet entitled The See also:Late Proceedings of the Parliament of Scotland Stated and Vindicated. He defended himself by See also:publishing an See also:Apology, which, in the See also:opinion of impartial judges, was a See also:complete vindication. Shortly after its issue he was created Viscount. Stair (1690). He had now reached the See also:summit of his prosperity, and the few years which remained of his old See also:age were saddened by private and public cares. In 1692 he lost his wife, the faithful partner of his good and evil See also:fortune for nearly fifty years. The See also:massacre of the Macdonalds of See also:Glencoe (Feb. 13, 1692), which has marked his son, the master of Stair, with a stain which his great services to the See also:state cannot efface—for he was undoubtedly the See also:principal adviser of William in that treacherous and cruel See also:deed, as a See also:signal way of repressing rebellion in the See also:Highlands—was used as an opportunity by his adversaries of renewing their attack on the old president. His own share in the See also:crime was remote; it was alleged that he had as a privy councillor declined to receive Glencoe's oath of allegiance, though tendered, on the technical ground that it was emitted after the day fixed, but even this was not clearly proved. But some share of the odium which attached to his son was naturally reflected on him. Other grounds of complaint were not difficult to make up, which found willing supporters in the opposition members of parliament. A disappointed suitor brought in a See also:bill in 1693 complaining of his partiality.

He was also accused of domineering over the other judges and of favouring the clients of his sons. Two bills were introduced without naming him but really aimed at him—one to disqualify peers from being judges and the other to confer on the See also:

Crown a See also:power to appoint temporary presidents of the court. The complaint against him was remitted to a See also:committee, which, after full inquiry, completely exculpated him; and the two bills, whose incompetency he demonstrated in an able See also:paper addressed to the commission and parliament, were allowed to drop. He was also one of a See also:parliamentary commission which prepared a See also:report on the regulation of the judicatures, afterwards made the basis of a See also:statute in 1695 supplementary to that of 1672, and forming the See also:foundation of the judicial See also:procedure in the Scottish courts for many years. On the 29th of See also:November 1695 Stair, who had been for some time in failing See also:health, died in Edinburgh, and was buried in the See also:church of St See also:Giles. In 1695 there was published in London a small See also:volume with the See also:title A Vindication of the Divine Perfections, Illustrating the See also:Glory of See also:God in them by See also:Reason and See also:Revelation, methodically digested—By a See also:Person of See also:Honour. It was edited by the two See also:Nonconformist divines, William See also:Bates and John See also:Howe, who had been in See also:exile in Holland along with Stair, and is undoubtedly his work. Perhaps it had been a See also:sketch of the " Inquiry Concerning Natural See also:Theology " which he had contemplated See also:writing in 1681. It is of no value as a theological work, for Stair was no more a theologian than he was a See also:man of See also:science, but it is of See also:interest as showing the serious See also:bent of his thoughts and the genuine piety of his See also:character. Stair's great legal work, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland deduced from its Originals, and collated with the Civil, See also:Canon and Feudal Laws and with the Customs of Neighbouring Nations, affords See also:evidence of the advantage he had enjoyed from his philosophical training, his See also:foreign travels and his intercourse with See also:Continental jurists as well as English lawyers. Unfortunately for its permanent fame and use, much of the law elucidated in it has now become antiquated through the decay of the feudal part of Scottish law and the large introduction of English law, especially in the departments of commercial law and See also:equity. The Physiologia was favourably noticed by See also:Boyle, and is interesting as showing the activity of mind of the exiled See also:judge, who returned to the studies of his youth with fresh zest when See also:physical science was approaching its new See also:birth.

But he was not able to emancipate himself from formulae which had cramped the See also:

education of his See also:generation, and had not caught the See also:light which See also:Newton spread at this very time by the communication of his Principia to the Royal Society of London. Stair was fortunate in his descendants. " The family of Dalrymple," observes Sir Walter Scott, " produced within two centuries as many men of See also:talent, civil and military, of See also:literary, See also:political and professional See also:eminence, as any house in Scotland." His five sons were all remarkable in their professions. John, master of Stair (1648–1707), who was created 1st earl of Stair in 1703, an able lawyer and politician, who is, however, principally remembered for his part in the massacre of Glencoe, is dealt with above. Sir James Dalrymple of Borthwick, created a See also:baronet in 1698, was one of the principal clerks of session, and a very thorough and accurate See also:historical See also:antiquary. Sir Hew Dalrymple of See also:North See also:Berwick (1652–1737) succeeded his father as president, and was reckoned one of the best lawyers and speakers of his time; he, too, was created a baronet in 1698. See also:Thomas Dalrymple became physician to See also:Queen See also:Anne. Sir See also:David Dalrymple of See also:Hailes (d. 1721), who was created a baronet in 1700, was lord advocate under Anne and See also:George I.; and his See also:grandson was the famous judge and historian, Lord Hailes (q.v.). Stair's grandson, John, and earl (1673–1747), who See also:rose to be a See also:field-See also:marshal, gained equal credit in war and See also:diplomacy. He was See also:ambassador in See also:Paris (1715–1720), and, besides seeing service under See also:Marlborough, was See also:commander-in-chief of the British forces on the See also:Continent in 1742, showing great gallantry at the See also:battle of See also:Dettingen. He had no son, and in 1707 had selected his See also:nephew John (1720-1789). as See also:heir to the title; but through a decision of the House of Lords in 1748 he only became 5th earl, after his See also:cousin James and James's son had succeeded as 3rd and 4th earls.

John's son, the 6th earl, died without issue, and a cousin again succeeded as 7th earl, his two sons becoming 8th and 9th earls. The 8th earl (1771–1853) was a See also:

general in the See also:army, and keeper of the great See also:seal of Scotland. The 9th earl's son and grandson succeeded as loth and 11th earls. For a See also:fuller See also:account of the life of Stair, see J. See also:Murray See also:Graham, See also:Annals of the Viscount and First and Second Earls of Stair (1875) ; A. J. G. See also:Mackay, Memoir of Sir James Dalrymple, First Viscount Stair (1875) ; and Sir R. See also:Douglas, See also:Peerage of Scotland, new ed., by Sir J. B. See also:Paul.

End of Article: STAIR, JAMES DALRYMPLE

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