James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount Stair (May 1619 – 29 November 1695) was a Scottish lawyer and statesman, and a key influence on the Scottish Enlightenment. He was a leading figure of Scottish law, “and also one of the greatest thinkers on law across Europe has ever produced.” According to Alexander Broadie, Professor of Logic and Rhetoric at Glasgow University, in his book The Scottish Enlightenment, the first Scottish enlightenment began Post Reformation in the 15th century, with figures such as John Mair (1467-1550), James Dalrymple (1619-1695), Duns Scotus (1265-1308), George Buchanan (1506-1582) and many others. These scholars were predominately educated at Paris university and then returned to teach at Scotland’s ancient universities – St Andrews, Aberdeen, and Glasgow. “Dalrymple graduated from Glasgow university in 1647 and was regent in arts there from 1641 until 1647. The following year he became an advocate and thereafter was appointed a judge. From 1661 Dalrymple, by now Viscount Stair, was active in the Court of Session and sat on many commissions through which he was connected to important moments in Scottish history." Broadie writes, “Above all, however, the reason Stair is important to Scotland is his treatise, The institutions of the law of Scotland, deduced from its originals, and collated with the civil, canon and feudal laws; and with the customs of neighbouring nations ... . 1st edition Edinburgh, 1681. This book set the practice of law in Scotland on a sound philosophical basis, almost certainly helped to ensure that Scots law would remain in force as a distinct entity after the union of 1707.” Biography James Dalrymple was born at Drummurchie, Barr, Ayrshire. He was descended from several generations of a family inclined to the principles of the Reformation. He had ancestors among the Lollards of Kyleboth both on his father's and his mother's side. His father, James Dalrymple, laird of the small estate of Stair in the District of Kyle, Ayrshire, died when he was an infant. His mother, Janet Kennedy of Knockdaw, is described as "a woman of excellent spirit", who took care to have him well-educated. From the grammar school at Mauchline he went, in 1633, to the University of Glasgow, where he graduated in arts on 26 July 1637. Next year he went to Edinburgh, probably with the intention of studying law, but the troubles of the times, then approaching a crisis, led him to change his course, and