George Lockhart (advocate)

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Sir George Lockhart of Carnwath (c. 1630 - 1689) was a Scottish lawyer.

The son of Sir James Lockhart of Lee, laird of Lee, he was admitted as an advocate in 1656. He was knighted in 1663, and was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1672. He was celebrated for his persuasive eloquence. In 1674, when he was disbarred for alleged disrespect to the Court of Session in advising an appeal to parliament, fifty barristers showed their sympathy for him by withdrawing from practice. Lockhart was readmitted in 1676, and became the leading advocate in political trials, in which he usually appeared for the defence.

He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lanarkshire in 1681-2 and 1685-6. He was appointed Lord President of the Court of Session in 1685, and a Privy Counsellor and a commissioner of the Exchequer in 1686.

He was shot in the streets of Edinburgh on the 31st of March 1689 by John Chiesley, against whom he had adjudicated a cause. He purchased the extensive estates of the Earls of Carnwath in Lanarkshire, which were inherited by his eldest son, George Lockhart of Lee (1673-1731), whose mother was Philadelphia, daughter of Lord Wharton.

[edit] Sources

Concise Dictionary of National Biography

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Preceded by Sir David Falconer of Newton

Lord President of the Court of Session 1685–1689

Succeeded by James Dalrymple