The James Wood Bequest Fund and the James Wood Lectures

The James Wood Bequest Fund is a charitable trust created under the Will of the late James Wood of Wallhouse, Torpichen, from the residue of his estate.  The first donations were made in 1935.

The James Wood Lecture was proposed by the Trustees in 1986 as a special five-year annual donation to the University of Glasgow Stair Building Appeal contributing initially £1500 per annum.  The first Lecture was given the next year by The Rt Hon Lord Fraser of Tullybelton and the Lecture has been given annually since.  The Lecture is arranged by the School of Law at the University.  Below is a list of the Lectures to date.

25 February 1987

The Rt Hon Lord Fraser of Tullybelton
Law Reform: the Judicial Contribution

24 February 1988

The Hon Lord Hunter
Law Reform:  the Scottish Law Commission

1 March 1989

Dr Eric M Clive, Scottish Law Commission
Family Law Reform, Past, Present and Future

28 February 1990

Professor David M Walker, Regius Professor of Law
The Province of Jurists Determined

28 February 1991

Mr Francis David Jacobs QC, Advocate General for the European Court of Justice
The Role of the European Court in the Development of European Law

27 February 1992

Professor W A  Wilson, Lord President Reid Professor of Law, University of Edinburgh
Studying Statutes

25 February 1993

The Hon Lord Clyde, Senator of the College of Justice and Chairman of the Orkney Inquiry
Orkney Revisited:  the Process of Inquiry

24 February 1994

Mr J Anthony Weir, Trinity College, Cambridge
Proverbial Law

23 February 1995

Sir William Kerr Fraser, Principal of the University of Glasgow
The Legislative Process

7 March 1996

Matthew Clark QC
Scots or European Lawyer: Quid sum?

18 February 1997

The Hon Lord Dervaird
The Privatisation of Civil Dispute Resolution – but is it Private?

26 February 1998

The Lord President the Rt Hon Lord Hope of Craighead
Taking the Case to London – is it all over?

19 February 1999

Professor David Johnston, Regius Professor of Civil Law, University of Cambridge
Legal Change: Survival of the Fittest?

3 February 2000

Professor Kenny Miller, University of Strathclyde
The Contribution of Scots Law to the Development of Modern Employment Law

14 March 2001

The Hon Lord Gill, Chairman of the Scottish Law Commission
Law Reform in the Twenty-first Century – Why? How? What?

21 February 2002

Mr Michael Christie: Aberdeen
The Coherence of Scots Criminal Law

6 March 2003

Mrs Elish Angiolini QC, Solicitor General
The Role of a Scottish Law Officer

9 March 2004

Professor James Boyle, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke University, North Carolina
The Ancient Rights of Cyberspace?:  Enclosing the Commons of the Mind.

20 April 2005

The Rt Hon Lord Maclennan of Rogart
Executive Power in our Constitutional Orders

6 March 2006

The Rt Hon Colin Boyd QC, Lord Advocate
Ministers and the Law

15 October 2007

Her Excellency, Dame Rosalyn Higgins QC, President of the International Court of Justice
Recent developments at the International Court of Justice: the UN’s court in a changing world

28 November 2008

The Rt Hon. Lord Mance, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Opting into Community law and interpreting Convention rights: is the UK more or less committed?