BARCLAY, WILLIAM Scots jurist, born in Aberdeenshire in 1546. He was educated at Aberdeen university, went to France in 1573, and studied law under Cujas, at Bourges, where he took his doctor's degree. Charles III., duke of Lorraine, appointed him professor of civil law in the newly-founded Uni versity of Pont-a-Mousson, and also counsellor of state and master of requests. In 1603 he was obliged to quit France for England, having incurred the enmity of the Jesuits by his opposition to their proposal to admit his son John (q.v.) into their society. He was offered preferment by King James on condition of joining the Church of England. He refused, and returning to France in 1604, was appointed professor of civil law at Angers, where he died (1608). His principal works were De Regno et Regali Potestate, etc. (1600), a defence of the rights of kings, in which he refutes George Buchanan, "Junius Brutus" (Hubert Languet) and Jean Boucher; and De Potestate Papae, etc. (London, 1609), in opposition to the papal claim of temporal power which called forth a reply from Bellarmine ; also commentaries on titles of the Pandects.