Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Shaw, Patrick
SHAW, PATRICK (1796–1872), legal writer, born at Ayr in 1796, was grandson of David Shaw, D.D., moderator of the general assembly in 1775, who is referred to by Burns in the ‘Twa Herds’ (Burns, Poetical Works, ed. Chambers, 1836, p. 56). His father was Charles Shaw, clerk of the county of Ayr. Alexander Shaw [q. v.], Sir Charles Shaw [q. v.], and John Shaw (1792–1827) [q. v.] were his brothers. In boyhood he lost his leg through an accident. In 1819 he was called to the Scottish bar, and in 1821 he commenced with his friend James Ballantine, and afterwards with Alexander Dunlop, a series of reports of the decisions in the court of session. In 1824 he commenced a similar series of reports of decisions in the House of Lords on appeal from the Scottish courts. These reports have been of great value to Scottish lawyers, and Shaw enhanced their usefulness by publishing supplementary digests of the decisions.
In 1848 Shaw was appointed sheriff of chancery, and he held the post till 1869, when he resigned owing to failing health. He died at 36 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, on 12 Feb. 1872. In 1860 he married the fourth daughter of William Fullarton of Skeldon, Ayrshire.
His publications are: 1. ‘Cases decided in the Court of Session,’ Edinburgh, 1821–1827, 5 vols. 8vo; new edition with notes, 1834, continued to 1838, vols. vi.–xvi., 1838–52. 2. ‘Cases decided in the House of Lords on Appeal from the Courts of Scotland,’ 1821–4, 2 vols. 8vo, 1824–6; from 1825 to 1834, 7 vols. 8vo, 1829–39; from 1835 to 1838, 3 vols. 8vo, 1836–9. 3. ‘Cases decided in the Court of Teinds from 1821 to 1831,’ Edinburgh, 1831, 8vo. 4. ‘Digests of Cases decided in the Courts of Session, Teinds, and Judiciary, and in the House of Lords from 1821 to 1833, and in the Jury Courts from 1815 to 1833,’ Edinburgh, 1834, 8vo; from 1832 to 1837, 2 vols. 1838, 8vo. 5. ‘Digest of Cases decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland from 1800 to 1842,’ 2 vols. 1843–4, royal 8vo; from 1842 to 1852, royal 8vo, 1852; new edition, 1868–9, 8vo. 6. ‘Forms of Process in the House of Lords, Court of Session, Privy Court, Court of Teinds, and Sheriff Court,’ Edinburgh, 1843, 2 vols. 8vo. 7. ‘Treatise on the Law of Obligation and Contracts in Scotland,’ 1847, 8vo. 8. ‘Principles of the Law of Scotland’ contained in Lord Stair's ‘Institutions,’ Edinburgh, 1863, 8vo. He also edited the sixth edition of Bell's ‘Commentaries on the Laws of Scotland,’ Edinburgh, 1858, 4to, and the fifth edition of Bell's ‘Principles of the Law of Scotland,’ Edinburgh, 1860, 8vo.
[Private information; Scotsman, 16 Feb. 1872; Scott's Eccl. Fasti Scot. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 100; Allibone's Dict. of Authors.]