as ‘undoubtedly one of the ablest lawyers of his time. His knowledge was founded on a thorough acquaintance with the Roman jurisprudence, imbibed from the best commentators of the pandects, and with the recondite learning of Craig, who has laid open the fountains of the Scottish law in all that regards the system of feudalism. … The decisions which he has recorded during the period when he sat as a judge of the supreme court exhibit the clearest comprehension and the soundest views of jurisprudence, and will for ever serve as a model for the most useful form of law reports.’
[Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, p. 505; Anderson's Scottish Nation, ii. 195; Foster's Collectanea Genealogica; Members of Parliament (Scotland), p. 135; see also Foster's Baronetage and Burke's Peerage and Baronetage.]
FERGUSSON, JAMES (1769–1842), Scotch legal writer, eldest son of James Fergusson of Bank, afterwards of Monkwood, Ayrshire, was born in 1769; studied at the university of Edinburgh; became a member of the Speculative Society 9 Dec. 1788; was admitted member of the Faculty of Advocates 1791; was successively appointed one of the four judges of the consistorial court, one of the principal clerks of session, and keeper of the general record of entails for Scotland. Fergusson was married and had issue. He sold the estate of Monkwood to his brother, John H. Fergusson of Trochraigue. He died in 1842.
Fergusson wrote: 1. ‘Letters upon the Establishment of the Volunteer Corps and Domestic Military Arrangement of Great Britain,’ Edinburgh, 1806. 2. ‘Observations upon the proposed Reform in the Administration of Civil Justice in Scotland,’ Edinburgh, 1807 (regarding the introduction of trial by jury). 3. ‘Reports of some recent Decisions by the Consistorial Courts of Scotland in Actions of Divorce,’ Edinburgh, 1817. These decisions illustrated the power of the Scotch court to dissolve marriage for adultery, which power the English court did not then possess, and the ‘alarming collision between the respective jurisdictions of the two countries in the same island and state’ which had arisen therefrom. 4. ‘Observations upon the Provisions of the Bill presented to Parliament relative to the trial in a separate tribunal of issues of fact arising in actions instituted before the Supreme Civil Court of Scotland,’ Edinburgh, 1824. 5. ‘A Treatise on the present state of the Consistorial Law in Scotland, with reports of decided cases,’ Edinburgh, 1829. 6. ‘Observations on Entails and Entries of Heir-Apparent, cum beneficio inventarii, with an index of the registers of tailzies from A.D. 1685 to 1830,’ Edinburgh, 1830. 7. ‘Additional Observations on Entails,’ Edinburgh, 1831.
[Paterson's Hist. of the County of Ayr, vol. ii. pt. iv. p. 371 (Edinburgh, 1852); Hist. of the Speculative Society, p. 187 (Edinburgh, 1845); Anderson's Scottish Nation, ii. 196; Cat. of Advocates' Library; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
FERGUSSON, Sir JAMES (1787–1865), general, son of Charles Fergusson by his cousin, daughter of Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch in Dumfriesshire, was born, according to the inscription on his monument in Locksbrook cemetery, Bath, on 17 March 1787. He entered the army as an ensign in the 18th royal Irish regiment on 20 Aug. 1801. From the 18th he was soon transferred to the 43rd Monmouthshire light infantry, which was at this time in training under the superintendence of Sir John Moore at Shorncliffe with the 52nd and 95th. These regiments formed the light division in the Peninsular war. Under the patronage of Moore, Fergusson was promoted lieutenant on 9 Feb. 1804 and captain on 1 Dec. 1806, and in 1808 accompanied his regiment in the expedition under Sir Arthur Wellesley to Portugal. He was at Roliça, at Vimeiro, where he was wounded, and in the retreat of Sir John Moore to Corunna, where the 43rd was in the reserve division. Fergusson next served in the Walcheren expedition in 1809. In March 1810 he again arrived with his regiment in Portugal, and served through the whole Peninsular war without once taking leave of absence, except for wounds. He was with the 43rd, and shared in the famous forced march before Talavera, in Craufurd's action on the Coa, at the battle of Busaco, in the retreat before Masséna, in the pursuit after Masséna, including the engagements of Pombal Redinha, Foz d'Arouce, and Sabugal, and at the battle of Fuentes de Onoro. In the two assaults on Badajoz and the assault on Ciudad Rodrigo Fergusson accompanied the storming parties of the 43rd as a volunteer, and was wounded at both places. Napier says (History of the Peninsular War, vol. iv. bk. xvi. ch. v.): ‘Who can sufficiently honour the hardihood of Fergusson of the 43rd, who having in former assaults received two deep wounds, was here, his former hurts still open, leading the stormers of his regiment; the third time a volunteer, the third time wounded?’ He received a gold medal for the capture of Badajoz as senior surviving officer of the light division storming party, and after being present at the battle of Salamanca, he was for his gallantry promoted major without purchase into the 79th regiment on 3 Dec. 1812. He at once
