Professor John Finlay

Professor of Scots Law (School of Law)

telephone: 5537
email: John.Finlay@glasgow.ac.uk

R436, Level 3, 8 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ

Biography

John Finlay graduated LLB (Hons) in the University of Edinburgh in 1993 where he was winner of Lord Cooper Memorial Prize for Most Distinguished LLB (Honours) graduate. He then tutored at Edinburgh from 1993-1998 and, from 1995-6, was a lecturer in law. He completed his PhD in legal history in 1997, being joint winner of the Jeremiah Dalziel Prize in British History in the same year. John moved to Glasgow in 1998 as a lecturer in law. He was later promoted to senior lecturer and, in 2013, to a personal chair in Scots law. From 2006 until 2012 he was Chief Adviser of Studies in Law and acted as Deputy Chief Adviser from 2012-15. He was Undergraduate Director from 2016 until 2022. Since 2013 he has been Student Mobility Officer in the College of Social Sciences and, from 2023, chair of the Translation of Grades Subcommittee.

John has been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 2003 and of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland since 2002. From 1997-2005, he was one of the honorary publication secretaries of the Scottish Legal History Society. John has served on the Council of the Stair Society and was twice, 2000-2004 and 2012-2014, secretary and treasurer of the Scottish History Group. He has also published with both the Stair Society and the Scottish Record Society. He has been involved in a number of international research collaborations, including three projects funded by the Gerda Henkl Stiftung and one by the Rheinisches Institut für Notarrecht.

John was formerly a member of the AHRC Peer Review College and a Research Assessor with the Carnegie Trust. He has published extensively in the area of legal history, including six books, the last of which appeared in 2023. He is currently working on lawyers in the 19^th century.

Research interests

John’s research interests lie primarily in legal history. He has published extensively on the development of the legal profession in Scotland and on the history of legal practice in local courts and in the Court of Session. Any prospective research students are very welcome to contact John to discuss their ideas.

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2026 | 2025 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2018 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2002 | 2000 | 1999

Number of items: 45.

2026

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2026) The contribution of practitioners to Scots Commercial law. In: Hardman, Jonathan, MacPherson, Alisdair and Wilson, Adelyn L. M. (eds.) The Development of Commercial Law in Scotland. Series: Edinburgh studies in law, 1. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781399514910 (In Press)

2025

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2025) David Clyne SSC (1790-1833): an Edinburgh law agent from Thurso. Northern Scotland, (Accepted for Publication)

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2025) A life in dispute: David Clyne SSC (1790-1833)c. 45th Annual Conference and AGM of the Scottish Legal History Group, Edinburgh, UK, 18 October 2025.

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2025) What’s in a name? The designation of solicitor in Scotland. Juridical Review, 2025(3), pp. 138-161.

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2025) The uses of public registers in early modern Scotland. In: Schmoeckel, Mathias, Sorice, Rosalba and Thier, Andreas (eds.) Die Geschichte des Registerrechts aus europäischer Perspektive. International Register Law Conference – Bonn 2023. Series: Schriften zum Notarrecht (69). Nomos: Baden-Baden, Germany, pp. 195-222. ISBN 9783748952251

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2025) ‘Lawyers’ letter books as an historical source for the early 19th century. Scottish History Society AGM and Conference, Edinburgh, UK, 29 March 2025.

2023

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2023) The history of legal practice in Scotland. Judicial Institute of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK, 29 September 2023.

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2023) George Craig of Galashiels: The Life and Work of a Nineteenth Century Lawyer. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781399514835

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2023) Bailie George Craig. Old Gala Club, Galashiels, Scotland, 25 January 2023.

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2023) Lawyers’ letters as an historical source. Juridical Review, 2023(1), pp. 48-69.

2022

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2022) ‘Inter arma enim silent leges?’ Impressment and the Scottish Courts in the later eighteenth century. Edinburgh Law Review, 26(1), pp. 1-28. (doi: 10.3366/elr.2022.0736)

2021

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2021) Schottland. In: Decock, Wim (ed.) Konfliktlösung in der Frühen Neuzeit. Series: Handbuch zur Geschichte der Konfliktlösung in Europa (vol 3). Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 659-678. ISBN 9783662561010

2020

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2020) David Boyle’s fee book. Juridical Review, 2020, pp. 1-24.

2018

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2018) The Admission Register of Notaries Public in Scotland, 1800-1899 [2 vols]. Scottish Record Society: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780902054622

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2018) The petition in the Court of Session in early modern Scotland. Parliaments, Estates and Representation, 38(3), pp. 337-349. (doi: 10.1080/02606755.2018.1532976)

2016

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2016) Professorial opinions and Scottish-Dutch legal relations at the turn of the eighteenth century. Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis: Legal History Review, 84(1-2), pp. 245-289. (doi: 10.1163/15718190-08412p08)

2015

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2015) Scots lawyers, England, and the Union of 1707. In: MacQueen, H.L. (ed.) Miscellany VII. Stair Society: Edinburgh, pp. 243-263.

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2015) Jurisdictional complexity in post-union Scotland. In: Donlan, S.P. and Heirbaut, D. (eds.) The Laws' Many Bodies: Studies in Legal Hybridity and Jurisdictional Complexity, c1600-1900. Series: Comparative studies in continental and Anglo-American legal history (32). Duncker & Humblot: Berlin, pp. 223-248. ISBN 9783428147151

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2015) Legal education, 1650-1850. In: Anderson, Robert, Freeman, Mark and Paterson, Lindsay (eds.) The Edinburgh History of Education in Scotland. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 114-132. ISBN 9780748679157

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2015) Legal Practice in Eighteenth-century Scotland. Series: Legal history library, 18. Brill: Leiden. ISBN 9789004 294936

2014

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2014) Tax the attornies!’ Stamp duty and the Scottish legal profession in the eighteenth century. Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, 34(2), pp. 141-166. (doi: 10.3366/jshs.2014.0118)

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2014) Local lawyers and their libraries in Eighteenth-century Scotland. Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 9, pp. 43-60.

2012

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2012) The Community of the College of Justice: Edinburgh and the Court of Session 1687-1808. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780748645770

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2012) The Admission Register of Notaries Public in Scotland, 1700-1799 [2 vols.]. Scottish Record Society: Edinburgh.

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2012) Corruption, regionalism and legal practice in Eighteenth-century Scotland: The rise and fall of David Armstrong, advocate. Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 86, pp. 143-172.

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2012) Trusts. Dundee University Press: Dundee, UK. ISBN 9781845861292

2011

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2011) Arbitration in Eighteenth-Century Scotland. Juridical Review, 2011, pp. 277-291.

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2011) Religion in the history of family law in Scotland. In: Mair, J. and Orucu, E. (eds.) The Place of Religion in Family Law: A Comparative Search. Series: European family law (30). Intersentia: Cambridge, OR, USA, pp. 267-302. ISBN 9781780680156

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2011) Scots lawyers and House of Lords appeals in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Journal of Legal History, 32(3), pp. 249-277. (doi: 10.1080/01440365.2011.627151)

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2011) The history of lawyers in the British Isles. In: Dolemeyer, B. (ed.) Anwaelte und ihre Geschichte. Mohr Siebeck: Tubingen, pp. 1097-1226. ISBN 978-3-16-150757-1

2010

Finlay, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2010) The History of delay in Civil Procedure: Scotland 1600-1808. In: Rhee, C. H. (ed.) The History of Delay in Civil Procedure. Series: Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History (28). Dunker & Humblot: Berlin, pp. 121-152. ISBN 9783428134090

2009

Finlay, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2009) The History of the Notary in Scotland. In: Schmoeckel, M and Schuber, W (eds.) Handbuch zur Geschichte des Notariats der europäischen Traditionen. Nomos: Baden-Baden, pp. 393-428. ISBN 978-3-8329-4068-3

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2009) Lawyers and the early modern state: regulation, exclusion, and numerus clausus. Canadian Journal of History: Annales Canadiennes d'Histoire, 44(3), pp. 383-410.

2008

Finlay, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2008) Advocates unlimited: the numerous clausus and the college of justice in Scotland. Historical Research, 82(216), pp. 206-228.

Finlay, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2008) Pettyfoggers, regulation, and local courts in early modern Scotland. Scottish Historical Review, 87(1), pp. 42-67. (doi: 10.3366/E0036924108000048)

2007

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2007) The lower branch of the legal profession in early modern Scotland. Edinburgh Law Review, 11(1), pp. 31-61. (doi: 10.3366/elr.2007.11.1.31)

2006

Finlay, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2006) Ethics, etiquette and the early modern Scots advocate. Juridical Review(2), pp. 147-178.

Finlay, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2006) Ratio decidendi in Scotland 1650-1800. In: Bryson, W.H. and Dauchy, S. (eds.) Ratio Decidendi: the Guiding Principles of Judicial Decisions. Series: Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History (25/1). Dunker & Humblot: Berlin, pp. 117-135. ISBN 9783428122165

Finlay, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-2690 (2006) Advocacy, patronage and character at the Eighteenth-century Scots bar. Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis: Legal History Review, 74(40210), pp. 95-119.