Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dickson, William Gillespie
DICKSON, WILLIAM GILLESPIE (1823–1876), legal writer, born 9 April 1823, was the second son of Henry Gordon Dickson, writer to the signet in Edinburgh. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and University, and destined for the legal profession. On 9 March 1847 he was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates, and practised at the bar of the supreme court of Scotland in Edinburgh for some years. His success as an advocate was moderate, and he employed the leisure of his first years of practice in preparing the work upon which his fame mainly depends—‘A Treatise on the Law of Evidence in Scotland,’ the first edition of which was published in July 1855. The work had immediate success. A second edition was published in 1864, but by this time the sphere of the author's labours was changed. In July 1856 he accepted the office of procureur and advocate-general of the Mauritius, where he remained for the next ten years. In 1867, on account of the failing health of his wife, he obtained leave of absence, and while in this country in 1868 he was offered by Sheriff Glassford Bell, then sheriff-principal of Lanarkshire, the office of sheriff-substitute in Glasgow. This he accepted, much to the regret of his friends in the Mauritius, by whom his labours were cordially appreciated, and where he was greatly liked, and on Sheriff Bell's death in 1874, he succeeded him as sheriff-depute (or principal sheriff) of the county. He was installed on 21 Jan. 1874, and shortly afterwards (in April 1874) he received from his alma mater the honorary degree of LL.D. He died suddenly on 19 Oct. 1876. In Glasgow as in the Mauritius Dickson made himself a general favourite. His great legal attainments and his extreme industry gained him the respect of the members of his profession. As a judge he was conscientious and painstaking in the highest degree. It is, however, by his legal writings, where his attainments as a scientific jurist had freer scope, that he will always be best known. His work on evidence is distinguished by thorough investigation, comprehensive grasp of the subject, and logical arrangement of its various branches. It rapidly became and still is the standard authority for the practising lawyer in Scotland, and a third edition, which, considering the age of the work, is now much needed, is understood to be at present in course of preparation. Dickson's amiability and geniality made him popular in private life.
[Journal of Jurisprudence, 1876; Scotsman and Glasgow Herald, 20 Oct. 1876; Dickson's Treatise on the Law of Evidence in Scotland.]