BAYNE, ALEXANDER,
of Rires, first professor of the municipal law of
Scotland, was the son of John Bayne of Logie, Fife,
descended from the old Fifeshire family of Tulloch,
to whom he was served heir in general, October 8,
1700. He was the representative of an old family in
the parish of Kilconquhar, and his estate of Rires
is now possessed by his descendant Robert Bayne
Dalgleish, Esq, of Dura. Mr. Bayne, on the 10th
of July 1714 was admitted advocate. In January 1722
the Faculty appointed him senior curator of the
Advocate’s Library, and, on 28th November
succeeding, he was elected by the town council to
the chair of Scots law, which in that year was first
instituted in the university of Edinburgh. In the
council register of that date there is the following
entry: “Mr. Alexander Bayne having represented how
much it would be for the interest of the nation and
of this city, to have a professor of the law of
Scotland placed in the university of this city, not
only for teaching the Scots law, but also for
qualifying of writers to his Majesty’s Signet; and
being fully apprised of the fitness and
qualifications of Mr. Alexander Bayne of Rires,
advocate, to discharge such a province; therefore,
the council elect him to be professor of the law of
Scotland in the university of this city.” Although
the Faculty of Advocates at first looked coldly upon
the erection of the chair of Scots law, they soon
began to be convinced that it was calculated to work
a beneficial change on the course of examination for
the bar, and on the system of legal study. In
January 1724 the Dean of Faculty, Mr. Robert Dundas
of Arniston, afterwards Lord President of the court
of session, proposed to the Faculty, that all
entrants should, previous to their admission,
undergo a trial, not only in the civil law, as
heretofore, but also in the municipal law of
Scotland; and though this was long resisted, it was
at length determined, by act of sederunt, February
28, 1750. In the beginning of 1726, Bayne retired
from the office of senior curator of the library,
and the same year he published the first edition of
Sir Thomas Hope’s Minor Practicks, a work of
great legal learning, which had lain nearly a
century in manuscript, to which was added by
Professor Bayne, ‘A Discourse on the Rise and
Progress of the Law of Scotland, and the Method of
Studying it.’ In 1731 he published a small volume of
‘Notes’ for the use of the students attending his
chair, formed out of his lectures, and which prove
that he was thoroughly acquainted not only with the
Roman jurisprudence, but also with the ancient
common law. About the same time, he published
another small volume, entitled ‘Institutions of the
Criminal Law of Scotland,’ also for the use of his
students. He died in June 1737, when Mr. Erskine of
Carnock was appointed his successor. He had married
Mary, a younger daughter of Anne, only surviving
child of Sir William Bruce of Kinross, by her second
husband, Sir John Carstairs of Kilconquhar, and by
her he had three sons and two daughters. One of his
daughters was the first wife of Allan Ramsay the
painter, son of the author of the Gentle Shepherd.
Professor Bayne’s works are:
Institutions of the Criminal Law of Scotland, Ed.
1747, 12mo.
Notes on the Criminal Law. 1748, 12mo.
Notes for the Use of the Students of the Municipal
Law. Edin. 1749, 12mo.
