[1] He was born on 30 July 1890 in Drem, East Lothian the son of James Reid a Solicitor of the Supreme Courts (SSC) and his wife, Kate Scott.

He was commissioned into the 8th battalion Royal Scots in World War I and was seconded to the Machine Gun Corps in 1916, serving in Mesopotamia and reaching the rank of Major.

He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling and Falkirk from October 1931 until his defeat in November 1935, and for Glasgow Hillhead from June 1937 until September 1948.

In 1948 he was appointed as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and received a Law Life Peerage as Baron Reid, of Drem in East Lothian.

The common law has never treated the appearance of a prostitute in public as an indictable offence however obvious her purpose might be, and an Act of Parliament has been found necessary to stop the nuisance of prostitutes parading in the public street.In the same case, he went on to say: Even if there is still a vestigial power of this kind it ought not, in my view, to be used unless there appears to be general agreement that the offence to which it is applied ought to be criminal if committed by an individual.