Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

David Torrance, Lord Clyde: The Orkney Judge

Document Cited authorities 2 Cited in Related
Vincent
DOI10.3366/elr.2020.0642
Published date01 May 2020
Date01 May 2020
Pages315-316

This is neither a book about the law nor a critical historical account of Lord Clyde's life. You will not find it full of interesting legal questions from the life of a man that gave such influential opinions as those in Smith v Bank of Scotland 1997 SC (HL) 111 and Sharp v Thomson 1997 SC (HL) 66. It is instead a chronological and neat, if often all too brief, account of events and memories from Lord Clyde of Briglands, taken mainly from the diaries he kept between 1946 and his death in 2009.

The author, David Torrance, more well-known for his erudite writings on Scottish politics, has left full-time journalism and now works for the House of Commons Library. This biography may be a marker of a move away from the rough and tumble of political journalism for the author, as the book's subject had a less than fruitful political career. Indeed, Lord Clyde's perceived lack of success, whether in politics or the law, and a shortage of natural self-confidence, coupled with subsequent success in the law, is a theme that runs throughout this biography. A key aspect of Lord Clyde's early life was his apparent concern about failing to reach the heights of his father and grandfather, both of whom sat as Lord President of the Court of Session. Despite this, the third Lord Clyde outshone his forefathers: he became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. There is no discussion about whether such a line of succession among the senior judiciary in Scotland is appropriate or a matter of concern. The reviewer was left with a feeling that this could have been a topic of debate. More broadly, the book shies away from potential controversy and adopts an openly positive tone to Lord Clyde throughout.

Nevertheless, it is not merely an account of a sequence of events that took place during the life of one of Scotland's leading legal figures. The man behind the judicial title takes centre stage...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT