23 Scottish legal writers

Hugo Arnot of Balcormo was a Scottish advocate, writer, and campaigner.

George Joseph Bell was a Scottish advocate and legal scholar. From 1822 to 1843 he was Professor of Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh. He was succeeded by John Shank More.

Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn, was a Scottish judge who sat in the English courts, became a Law Lord and is remembered as one of the greatest exponents of the common law.

Hugh Blair was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse.

Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, 2nd Baronet (1676–1755) was a Scottish politician, lawyer, judge and composer.

Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, 2nd Baronet, Lord Fountainhall was one of Scotland's leading jurists who remains to this day an oft consulted authority. He was knighted in 1680 and matriculated his Arms with the Lyon Court on 15 June 1699.

Alexander Gibson, Lord Durie I was a Scottish judge and legal writer.

Henry Home, Lord Kames was a Scottish advocate, judge, philosopher, writer and agricultural improver. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, and active in the Select Society, he acted as patron to some of the most influential thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, including the philosopher David Hume, the economist Adam Smith, the writer James Boswell, the chemical philosopher William Cullen, and the naturalist John Walker.

David Hume, Baron Hume of Ninewells FRSE (1757–1838) was a Scottish advocate, judge and legal scholar, whose work on Scots criminal law and Scots private law has had a deep and continuing influence. He is referred to as Baron Hume to distinguish him from his uncle, David Hume the philosopher.

Prof Arthur Berriedale Keith DCL DLit LLD was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indologist. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Lecturer in Constitutional History in the University of Edinburgh. He served in this role from 1914 to 1944.

Aeneas James George Mackay was a Scottish lawyer and academic, known as a legal and historical writer.

Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh (1636/1638–1691) was a Scottish lawyer, Lord Advocate, essayist and legal writer.

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, PC, SL was a British barrister, politician and judge noted for his reform of English law. Born to Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth, Scotland, before moving to London at the age of 13 to take up a place at Westminster School. He was accepted into Christ Church, Oxford, in May 1723, and graduated four years later. Returning to London from Oxford, he was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn on 23 November 1730, and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent barrister.

John McLaren, Lord McLaren, FRSE was a Scottish Liberal politician and judge. In the scientific world he is remembered as a mathematician and astronomer.

Mark Napier was a Scottish lawyer, biographer and historical author. He was called to the Bar, practised as an advocate, and was made Sheriff of Dumfries and Galloway. Napier wrote from a strongly Cavalier and Jacobite standpoint. He published Memoirs of the Napiers, of Montrose, and of Graham of Claverhouse, the last of which gave rise to controversy.

George Neilson, LL.D., FSAScot, was a Scottish historian, antiquary, and lawyer. Neilson is known for his scholarship relating to Scottish law, archaeology, and literature, with particular emphasis on medieval Scotland.

Patrick Steuart Newbigging FRSE WS (1809-1849) was a short-lived Scottish lawyer and legal author. He was a Member of the Edinburgh Society of Arts.

Sir John Skene, Lord Curriehill (1549–1617) was a Scottish prosecutor, ambassador, and judge. He was involved in the negotiations for the marriage of James VI and Anne of Denmark.

James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount Stair, Scottish lawyer and statesman, was born at Drummurchie, Barr, Ayrshire.

George Gordon Stott, Lord Stott, PC, QC was a Scottish advocate, sheriff and Lord Advocate, the chief legal officer for the Crown and government in Scotland. In retirement Gordon Stott published three volumes of extracts from the diaries he had been keeping throughout his legal career.

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee FRSE was a Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian who served as Professor of Universal History, and Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh.

William Tytler WS FRSE (1711–1792) was a Scottish lawyer, known as a historical writer. He wrote An Inquiry into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots, against the views of William Robertson. He discovered the manuscript the "Kingis Quhair", a poem of James I of Scotland. In 1783 he was one of the joint founders of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

William Watson, Baron Watson, PC was a Scottish lawyer and Conservative Party politician. He was Lord Advocate, the most senior Law Officer in Scotland, from 1876 to 1880, and was then appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.