David Erskine, Lord Dun

Who was David Erskine, Lord Dun?

David Erskine, Lord Dun, was a Scottish advocate, judge and commissioner to parliament.

Erskine, son of David Erskine of Dun, near Montrose, in Angus, studied at the universities of St. Andrews and of Paris. He became a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 19 November 1698, and soon rose to eminence. He represented Forfarshire at the convention of estates, 1689, and in the parliaments of 1690, 1691, 1693, 1695, and 1696, and opposed the union.

In November 1710 he took his seat as an ordinary lord by the title of Lord Dun, and on 13 April 1714 was also appointed a lord of justiciary. He resigned his justiciary gown in 1744 and his office as an ordinary lord in 1753, and died 26 May 1758 in the eighty-fifth year of his age.

He is author of a little volume entitled ‘Lord Dun's Friendly and Familiar Advices adapted to the various Stations and Conditions of Life,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1754. His arguments on the doctrine of passive obedience were assailed the same year by Dr. Robert Wallace, minister at Moffat, who characterises Erskine as ‘a venerable old man, of very great experience, and greatly distinguished for piety.’