John William Salmond, Kt., M.A. LL.B.

Abstract

In choosing as the subject of my thesis "The Life and Work of Sir John Salmond" I was not prompted by any close personal interest in the man, or by a previous extensive knowledge of his work. He was not a man who was ever in the limelight; but I knew him to be one who had played an important part in the history of this country. A deepening interest and admiration have been the result of my investigations. It was but a few months after Sir John Salmond's death that I commenced to collect material for my thesis, so that there had been published no comprehensive account of the man or of his work to which I could refer. I had therefore to turn my attention to the numerous appreciations which had appeared in. papers and magazines immediately after his death. In this I was greatly assisted by Mrs Allan and Mr J. Christie, both of whom had collections which were Kindly placed at my disposal. My information, apart from what was gleaned from these cuttings, has been derived from personal interviews with, or letters from, friends of the late Sir John, and from a study of his writings and of the statutes which he framed, with official Year books for reference. I have as yet done little more than dip into his larger works, but the little I have read, with the Report on the washington Conference, have been sufficient to give me a very clear idea of the style of the writer.