Former judge Lord Prosser dies

Lord Prosser, a former Dean of the Faculty of Advocates and Court of Session judge, has died at the age of 80.

William David Prosser was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Edinburgh University. He was admitted to Faculty in 1962 and took silk in 1974.

He was elected Vice Dean of Faculty in 1979 and then Dean in 1983, an office he held until his appointment to the bench in 1986, when he took the judicial title Lord Prosser. He retired in 2001.

A man with a great interest in the arts, Lord Prosser served in many posts, including chairman of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company and chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland.

He was also a former Trustee of the Franco-British Council, a past President of the Franco-British Lawyers Society and held the honour, Officier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France).

James Wolffe QC, the current Dean of Faculty, said: "Lord Prosser was an advocate and judge of towering intellect, and a man of enormous humanity and wide cultural interests. Among his many contributions to Scotland’s legal and cultural life, he was Dean of the Faculty of Advocates from 1983 to 1986. He will be greatly missed."