* Professor of Legal History, University of Edinburgh. I am grateful to the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland, the Keeper of the Advocates’ Library, the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, the Keeper of Muniments, University of St Andrews Library, the Archivist of the City of Edinburgh, and the Librarian and Archivist of the University of Edinburgh for permission to cite and quote from unpublished materials in their care. I am also grateful to Sir Robert Clerk of Penicuik and the Earl of Mar and Kellie for similar permission concerning their family papers deposited in the National Archives of Scotland. Other than the occasional separate item, or when otherwise indicated, citations to papers in the National Library are to MSS or charters in the Paul and Erskine Murray Papers. Various earlier versions of this article were delivered at the Thirteenth British Legal History Conference, Cambridge, 2-5 July 1997, at a seminar on Law and Scottish Studies, University of Glasgow, 20 October 2006, at the Conference of the American Society for Legal History, Baltimore, 16-18 November 2006, and as a Tercentenary Lecture in the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh on 9 February 2007. Dates are given with the year beginning on 1 January as was Scottish practice. In quotations from manuscripts, original spelling is preserved, but contractions are usually silently expanded. A. INTRODUCTION B. EARLIER VIEWS ON THE FOUNDING OF THE CHAIR C. POLITICAL PATRONAGE D. THE ROLE OF WILLIAM CARSTARES E. THE NEED FOR A CHAIR IN LAW F. THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHAIR G. THE IDEA OF IUS PUBLICUM H. IUS PUBLICUM IN SCOTLAND I. THE CHOICE OF ARESKINE J. ARESKINE’S QUALIFICATIONS K. ARESKINE’S INITIAL APPOINTMENT L. ARESKINE’S LEGAL EDUCATION M. ARESKINE’S FURTHER TRAVELS N. ARESKINE’S TENURE OF THE CHAIR O. CONCLUSION The Origins of the Edinburgh Law School: the Union of 1707 and the Regius Chair