William Guthrie

Born in Stranraer in 1835, he was educated at Stranraer Academy and at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. He was called to the Scottish bar in 1861, though biographical sources note that he devoted much of his energy to legal scholarship rather than to courtroom practice.

His best-known work was his English translation of Friedrich Carl von Savigny's treatise on private international law, published with notes. He also edited volumes of Scottish sheriff court cases and wrote on legal questions including marriage, divorce, legitimacy, and domicile, helping make difficult areas of law more accessible to working lawyers and serious readers.

He died in 1908. Surviving reference works remember him as a careful legal writer whose career was shaped less by public fame than by steady, useful scholarship.