A SON of the late Sir John Boyd, Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1890 to 1893, and Isabella, daughter of the late John Lawson, W.S., of Netherurd, Peeblesshire, Sheriff Boyd was born in Edinburgh in 1856, and educated at Edinburgh High School and University. He passed as an advocate at the age of twenty-four. Six years later he joined the staff of the Scottish Law Reporter, and he became editor of that publication in 1889. In 1894 he was appointed to the staff of the Court of Session Reports, and remained in that position for three years. Meanwhile he had been appointed in 1886 Junior Legal Assessor to the City of Edinburgh, and during his ten years of office took part in such Corporation cases as the Princes Street Tunnel Scheme of the Caledonian Railway and the Princes Street Gardens Scheme of the North British Company, in both of which he conducted the action for the Corporation before committees of both Houses of Parliament. He was engaged in many important arbitrations and public enquiries, and became especially noted for the decision of contested cases in the Dean of Guild Court. On appeal his decisions were almost invariably upheld. On the retiral of Sheriff Murray at Glasgow, Mr. Boyd was, on the recommendation of the Lord Advocate in October, 1897, appointed a Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire.
    In politics Sheriff Boyd is a Conservative, and he has given active support to his party, especially in Roxburghshire. There, at the General Election of 1895, he undertook the post of honorary private secretary to Lord Dalkeith, the Unionist candidate, and largely contributed to the return of his lordship by the substantial majority of 561. In the way of recreation he is a fair shot, a skilful angler, a horseman, and an enthusiast for curling and golf.

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