Ian Hamilton KC dies aged 97

Ian Hamilton KC, the oldest living member of the Faculty of Advocates and the last survivor of the four people who removed the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey to Scotland in 1950, has died at the age of 97.

Tributes have been paid to Mr Hamilton, a lifelong Scottish nationalist, including by Dean of Faculty Roddy Dunlop KC, who described him as "a Faculty legend, renowned for his fearless advocacy and effortless bonhomie"; and as "a formidable advocate, a great friend to many, and a lovely man".

Mr Dunlop said: "His name will live long after his death, as the man who, whilst a student, ‘liberated’ the Stone of Destiny; as the man who, before even calling to the bar, addressed the Inner House as the second petitioner in the seminal case of MacCormick v Lord Advocate 1953; and as the man who thereafter was one of the greats in the Scottish criminal courts."

The MacCormick case was brought to argue that it would breach the Act of Union for the Queen to call herself Elizabeth II.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Mr Hamilton was "a lawyer of exceptional quality and a legend of the independence movement".