[5] In the Oration Commemorative of the Fifth Centenary, Lord Macmillan referred to Murray as "my old friend" and "one of the University's most devoted alumni".

[6] In 1934, Macmillan had dedicated part of an address on "Law and History" to Murray: May I in passing pay a tribute to the memory of my old friend?

He demonstrated by his own career the fallacy of the idea that scholarship is inimical to professional success, for while few if any have surpassed him in antiquarian learning, he was no mere pedant but an admirable man of business and the head of one of the most important legal firms in Scotland.

I am happy in remembering the stimulus which he gave to my early legal studies and, with no less gratitude, the fact that I received from him my first general retainer – for the old Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company.

[8] It was with the materials in his unrivalled library that Murray spent all his leisure hours, resulting in an extensive and wide-ranging scholarly output on law, economic and legal history, accountancy, archaeology, and bibliography.

Applications are based around an annotated list or catalogue of items owned and anticipated future additions, with a separate statement of the concept of the collection.

[10] He was also Dean of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow from 1895 to 1898, whose claim as the oldest professional body of lawyers in Scotland is largely based on his antiquarian researches.

He had particular expertise in the law of property and conveyancing, editing the seven volume standard style book of the day,[12] (with the Professor of Scots Law in the University of Edinburgh, Sir John Rankine KC[13] and the Professor of Conveyancing, John Little Mounsey)[14] and writing much on the history of land registration.

In Scotland there can be no secret deeds, no concealed encumbrances which can affect a transfer of land.Murray had a leading role in the legal aftermath of the collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank.

However, he fell ill in August on the day after funeral of his business partner, Mr Spens, and had been confined to his home until his death.