Background and education

Alexander Moncrieff was the third son of Alexander Moncrieff, Advocate and Sheriff of Ross and Cromarty

Ross and Cromarty

Ross and Cromarty is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use...

. Moncrieff was educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities.

Legal career

In 1894 Moncrieff was called to the Scottish bar and in 1912 he became a King's Counsel. In January 1926 he was called to the bench. He was the judge for the original trial in Donoghue v. Stevenson

Donoghue v. Stevenson

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100 was a decision of the House of Lords that established the modern concept of negligence in Scots law and English law, by setting out general principles whereby one person would owe another person a duty of care...

.

He became Lord Justice-Clerk in February 1947, succeeding Lord Cooper, but resigned later that year on the grounds of ill-health. In May 1947, he became a Privy Counsellor.