THE SUCIDE OF THE LORD JUSTICE CLERK.

Otago Witness, Issue 941, 11 December 1869, Page 9

TH E SUCIDE OF THE LORD JUSTICE CLERK.

OnSeptember.^OjrheLor^ Justice-pierk, who has been 1 - lately residing in Perthshire, went out for, a walk -before breakfast. It [waa feared .that some' accident -had' befallen him, and great exoifcement, prevailed in the district. On Sept. 21. an empty 'razor case land a neckerchief Y both identified- fta having belonged, to, his .-lordship, were fotfnd on the river, bank, at no great distance from Glenalmond Hou«,e; Ths, neckerchief was marked 'with blood— a fact .whioty taken in. connection with the. juxtaposition of, the, razor-case, , naturally" led to painful surmises. ,On Sept. 24, the body was found near the fridge of Buchantry, and about a hundred yarda from i a deep pool in proximity to G-lenalmoad House. There- was a large gaah across the throat of the > deceased.' It ■ may be 1 interesting to state that the late Sight Hon. George Patton waa the son of Mr T. Patton, sheriff-clerk of Perthshire, and was born in 1803. H He was [educated at the Perth Academy, whence he proceeded to Oxford. In June, 1828, he was called to the Scotch bar, where he soon obtained a considerable practice, being esspecially noted at one time for the number of 'railway cases in which he was engaged. His politics were Conaervative, but it was not till 1858 that he obtained any preferment 1 from his party. In that year, Mr Mure being appointed Lord- Advocate on thaaooession of the Earl of Derby to poyver, Mr ) George Patton was chosen to fill the post .of Solicitor- General for Scotland., lord Paljmerston, in 1864, gave Mr Mure a seat on the Bench, and in 1866, on the resignation of Earl Russell, Earl Derby appointed; Mr Patton— then M.P. for Bridgewater — LordAdvocate. He sought re-election at; Bridgewater, but was defeated by Mr Van dor Byl, and remained without a seat in the House of 'Commons. Notwithstanding this he prepared several bills, some of which became law- among them the Small Debts Recovery Aot, and the Act directing the taking of evidence by the Court of Session Judges. Mr Patton became Lord Justice. Clerk, or president of the second court, at the end of February, 1867. In thia position his urbanity and kindness, especially towards the younger members of the bar, rendered biro, extremely popular with the profession, and if at times bis legal decisions were wanting in logical or legul foroe, they always evidenoed the* utmost care on his part to arrive at a juat aud right conclusion. He was much distressed in his mind by a summons to appear before the commissioners at Bridgewater to explain the circumstances attendant on his emotion for that corrupt borough. His mind appears to have become unbioged, and, in the otithyear of his age, when labouring doubtless under a temporary aberration of reason, he terminated his earthly existence by his own hand. Those who were personally acquainted with his genial, frank manner, his modest and unassuming style of oonversation, and his pleasure in doing an aot of kindness, will remember him with deep regret.