Sir James MacGill, Lord Rankeillor of Nether Rankeillour (died 1579), was a Scottish courtier and Senator of the College of Justice.
[3] MacGill and John Bellenden prepared a short guide to Scottish law, the Discours Particulier D'Escosse, written in French for Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis II of France.
[6] Yet by August 1559, he had secret meetings with the English commander and Captain of Berwick, Sir James Croft, saying that the Queen Regent's council were mostly joined with the Protestants.
MacGill was unhelpful to the English agent Thomas Randolph when he requested details of the divorce of Margaret Tudor and the Earl of Angus, the grandparents of Lord Darnley.
[10] After the murder of David Riccio, the Papal Nuncio advised the removal of six men from Court to restore peace, including Bellenden and MacGill, described as "a man of no family and contriver of all evil".
MacGill asked for 8 cannons, 3000 footmen and pikemen, and support for 1000 Scots troops, in the cause of the "maintenance and protection of the true religion to the confusion of those that now goes about to disturb the same".
[16] Regent Morton wrote to MacGill in 1575 asking him to re-negotiate a gold and silver mining contract with the Dutch engineer Cornelius de Vos.
His letter mentions that he had previously written to her on the subject of "what duty a wife owes her husband"; Knox said he had referred the matter to John Calvin.