ERSKINE, JOHN, of Carnock Scottish jurist, son of Lieut.-Colonel John Erskine, was in 173 7 appointed profes sor of Scots law in the University of Edinburgh. In 1754 he pub lished his Principles of the Law of Scotland. He retired from his chair in 1765, and the rest of his life was spent in the preparation of his great work, the Institutes of the Law of Scotland, which he did not live to publish. He died at Cardross, Perthshire, on March r, 1768. Erskine's Institutes (17 73 ; many later eds.) has always been esteemed of the highest authority on the law of Scotland. The Principles, being more concise and direct, retained its place as the text-book on Scots law, and was frequently re-edited.