have elapsed, since the persons of whom traits have been preserved, have quitted this sublunary scene,— and although many of them attained no inconsiderable degree of celebrity in their lifetime, it has been found, in many instances, a matter of some difficulty to obtain satisfactory information relative to them. Sometimes, too, the same story is told of different persons; thus some versions of the anecdote at page 52, represent the late Bayn Whyt, Esq. W. S. as the mischievous person who tormented the worthy Baronet, by making faces at him;-it is not very material whether the Barrister, or the Writer to the Signet, was the offending party, if the rest be true, and that such a scene did actually take place cannot reasonably be doubted; for, besides the distinct recollection of an old gentleman on the subject, who died some years since, and from whom the story was first obtained, there are still surviving, various persons who, although not present, have heard the circumstances detailed, and who received them as perfectly genuine, shortly after the time when they are alleged to have taken place.

The Editor has been informed, that the Competition between the Lakes, was written in imitation of the style in which the late Robert Craigie, Esq.*

*Mr. Craigie, Son of John Craigie, Esq. of Kilgraston, was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1776. After

(afterwards Lord Craigie,) and John Burnet, Esq. used to prepare their reports for the Faculty Collection of Decisions.

having been several years Sheriff-depute for Dumfriesshire, he was raised to the bench in 1811. Upon his demise in 1834, he was succeeded by Lord Cockburn. Lord Craigie was a very sound Lawyer, and his opinion in feudal matters was entitled to great consideration and respect. He was opposed to the judgment of his brethren in the great Bargany cause; and his speech, which will be found in the books of reports, may be perused with much advantage. Lord Eldon was much inclined to concur in it, and it is well known that the judgment was affirmed in deference to the great majority of the Scotish Judges.

For some reason or other Lord Craigie was in no favour with the late eccentric John Clerk, (Lord Eldin,) who treated him with much disrespect.-Perhaps this feeling of hostility might have arisen from their having been opposed to each other in the Roxburghe cause; and as Mr. Clerk was deeply interested for General Kerr, he might be somewhat nettled at the success of Mr. Craigie, who was one of the leading counsel for his opponent ;more especially as John's decided opinion was, that the judgment, both of the Court of Session and House of Lords, was erroneous. Notwithstanding the provocation continually given, Lord Craigie never lost his temper. His Lordship was a very bad speaker, and he delivered his remarks from the bench in such a disjointed and imperfect manner, that sometimes they were not very intelligible; this, it is believed, is the true reason why his merits as a lawyer were not properly estimated.

On the bench he was invariably kind to the members of the bar: there was no attempt to browbeat; on the contrary, he did every thing to encourage the timid youthful lawyer. He had no favourites-all counsel were treated alike; and on no occasion did he ever utter one syllable to hurt the feelings of the pleader. When he had occasion to reprove, he uniformly did so as a gentleIn private life he was much and deservedly esteemed,in a word, a kinder man or more worthy citizen never breathed than Robert Craigie.

man.

The Editor, in concluding, has to return his very best thanks to those Gentlemen who have so obligingly furnished him with many piquant ingredients for this olla podrida, and he begs to assure them it will be very much owing to their kindness in heightening the flavour, if the dish should be deemed wor. thy of the palates of those literary and legal gourmets, for whose gratification it has been chiefly prepared.

COURT OF SESSION GARLAND.

I.

ANECDOTES OF THE EARLY ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN SCOTLAND.

These Anecdotes formed the subject of an article communicated some years ago by the Editor of the present Volume to the Edinburgh Law Journal, a Periodical Work now consigned to the tomb of the Capulets, from whence it has been disinterred, and with various alterations and additions, has been prefixed as a suitable introduction to this Collection of Pieces, chiefly satirical, connected with the College of Justice and its Members. Of the truth of the charges brought against the early administration of justice in this country, there can be no reasonable doubt,-for setting aside the strong presumption arising from the mass of evidence referred to,—the Act of Parliament 1597,-the Acts of Sederunt 1677-1679 and 1690,-the concurring and positive testimony of Buchanan, of Johnston,-of Fountainhall,-of Balcarras, are too strong to be overturned. That there may have been, and probably were, honest men occasionally on the bench, may be true, but in those days dishonesty seems to have been the rule, and honesty the exception.

Ir may be doubted if, in any country, not even excepting France prior to the revolution, there can be found more direct or positive instances of judicial corruption, than may be traced in the annals of Scotish Jurisprudence. Indeed, from the institution of the College of Justice down to a comparatively recent date, hardly any one period can be pointed out, as altogether free from taint.

Nor is it wonderful that the administration of justice should have been thus polluted; for, however national vanity may attempt to disguise the fact, there is no doubt that Scotland,

while a separate Kingdom, had little pretension to be considered in the light of a civilized state. Her nobles were turbulent, unprincipled, and sanguinary,-her statesmen (with few exceptions) were generally influenced by any other motives than the good of their country, the lesser barons were semibarbarous, and the peasantry, especially in the Highland districts, almost entirely so. If any person is inclined to suppose this picture overcharged, a reference to Mr. Pitcairn's Criminal Trials-a singularly curious and valuable work-will remove all his doubts.*

Even the clergy were not altogether unaffected by the state of society in which they were placed. They partook too much of the stern spirit of the age; and it is melancholy to reflect, that even our venerable Reformer has spoken complacently of the murder of Cardinal Beaton,—thus inferentially, if not directly, affording his high sanction to that most detestable of all maxims, that "the end justifies the means." It would have been, therefore, somewhat surprising if the judges should have been the only portion of the community uninjured by the pestilential atmosphere which they were inhaling.

At no distant interval from the institution of the College of Justice, the judges had become obnoxious; and Buchanan has recorded his opinion of the tyrannical exercise of their powers in the following striking terms:-" Omnium civium "bona quindecim hominum arbitrio sunt commissa, quibus "et perpetua est potestas, et imperium plane tyranicum: quippe quorum arbitria sola sunt pro legibus."+

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The result of this exclusive arbitrary power may be anticipated. Subject to no control, the law was expounded by the judges in the way best suited to further their own purposes, and they gradually became so corrupt, that the legislature interfered; and in the year 1579, an Act was passed prohibiting them,

* In truth, James the Sixth, whom it has been the fashion to ridicule as an empty pedant, was the first of the Stewarts who really benefited the Kingdom, by gradually depressing an unprincipled Aristocracy.

† Rerum Scoticarum Historia, f. 501. Ultrajecti 1668. 8vo.