Advocate, judge and politician. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, Rutherfurd was called to the Bar 1812. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland (1837-39) and Lord Advocate (1839-41) under the administration of Lord Melbourne. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Leith Burghs in 1839, but resigned all his posts in 1841 when Robert Peel's Conservative government gained power. He returned as Lord Advocate (1846 - 1851) under Lord John Russell's administration. Rutherfurd was noted for simplifying the conveyancing process in Scotland and the Rutherfurd Act of 1848 amended the law of entail. In 1851, he was appointed a judge in the Court of Session as Lord Rutherfurd.
In 1844, Rutherfurd was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow.
He lived at Lauriston Castle and lies buried alongside his wife in Dean Cemetery, where their monument is a remarkable granite pyramid.
