Lecture notes of Robert Sutherland

Scope and Content

The collection at E2006.44 contains lecture notes taken while Sutherland attended Edinburgh University in the late-1940s and early-1950s. The material includes:

  • - Minute Book of the Dining Club
  • - Lecture notes on Evidence and Pleading
  • - Lecture notes on Political Science
  • - Lecture notes on Conveyancing, International Private Law
  • - Lecture notes on Scots Law
  • - Material on the Theory of Money, Public Finance, a criticism of Keynes, and the Trade Cycle
  • - Material on International Trade, Production and Distribution
  • - Typewritten notes on Constitutional Law and Constitutional History
  • - Papers from the Hague Academy of International Law, Jurisprudence class summaries
  • - Lecture notes on Roman Law, London University

The notes were taken during Edinburgh University lectures/sessions presented by, among others: Mr. Nobbs, Professor Gray, Professor Richard Pares, Dr. Mary Rankin, Professor H. Monteath, Dr. Robert Taylor Q.C., Professor Montgomerie, Professor L. J. Saunders, Professor Campbell, Mr. Marwick, Mr Fraser (Lord Fraser), Miss Stewart, and Mr. Birnie.

At E2006.13 there is: a handbook for users of the Edinburgh University Union from circa 1952; a copy ofThe seventh facultyby James L. Whitehead, a piece about the University Union written in 1957; and, a ms letter.

Administrative / Biographical History

Robert Sutherland W.S. was born in 1926. After some years in Stornoway and then in Essex, his family returned to Edinburgh and he spent his last few school years at the city's George Watson's College. He served in the Indian Army (1944-1947) towards the end of the Second World War. He had been a lieutenant in the Assam Regiment.

In 1951 Sutherland graduated with the degree of MA (Hons) in Economic Science, and then in 1953 with the degree of LL.B., both from Edinburgh University. From 1955 to 1973 he was a principal partner in the law firm Stuart and Stuart W.S. in Edinburgh, though after his graduation he also tutored in Conveyancing in Edinburgh University for several years.

In 1972, he became a Lecturer, and subsequently Senior Lecturer, in Private Law at Glasgow University, retiring in 1990. Among his academic interests he was, for a time, a member of council of the Stair Society, an external examiner in Legal History at Edinburgh University, and a member of council of the Geological Society of Edinburgh. He also served as a member of the Business Committee of the General Council of Edinburgh University and of some of its sub-committees.

For some years, Sutherland held lay office in the Episcopal Church in Scotland and was variously a member of the Diocesan Council and the Representative Church Council and some other Committees and Boards. For several years he was a member of the Law Reform Committee of the Law Society of Scotland. He is an honorary member of the Scottish Economic Society. In addition to a wide general experience as a practitioner for more than twenty years, he is an Honorary Sheriff of Tayside, Central and Fife and was for a number of years a Chairman of Social Security Tribunals in Glasgow, and Depute Chairman of central Lands Valuation Appeals Panel.

Until his retirement Sutherland was a Solicitor and remains a Writer to the Signet and a Notary Public. He is a Fellow of the Edinburgh Geological Society and of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and a member of the Stair Society and the Scottish Record Society. He has maintained a strong interest in Scandinavian, particularly Norwegian, language and literature.

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