In 1714, Aland wrote and published a volume titled The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Government based on a manuscript in the Bodleian Library by his distant ancestor Sir John Fortescue, to which he added an extended preface.

[1][2][3] It is unclear whether he was educated at home or attended a public school,[4] but at any rate he studied law at the Middle Temple in 1688 and was called to the Bar in 1695.

He succeeded his father-in-law Sir John Pratt, being returned unopposed by the Duke of Somerset as a Whig Member of Parliament for Midhurst at the 1715 general election.

"[1] However, William Tooke, in his New and General Biographical Dictionary (1798), "very much doubt[ed] the authenticity of the said general assertion"[11] as he did not see why George II, whom he regarded as "eminent for his regard to public justice", would have removed a judge "merely for giving his opinion in his judicial capacity, for executing his office faithfully, impartially, honestly, and according to the best of his skill and knowledge, without fear or affection, prejudice or malice, because his opinion happened to counteract the wishes of the heir apparent".

[13] In any case, if the King had in fact acted for this unjust motive, he had a change of heart and reinstated Fortescue Aland as a judge on 27 January 1728.

[5] Tooke notes that the writers Francis Gregor and George Hicks said Fortescue Aland had "sat in the supreme courts of judicature with applause, and to general satisfaction; that he deservedly had the name of one perfectly read in the northern and saxon literature".

[22] A collection of judicial decisions edited by Fortescue Aland was published two years after his death as Reports of Select Cases in All the Courts of Westminster-Hall (1748).

[23] Jefferson read the 1719 edition of The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy,[24] and its recommendation of Anglo-Saxon for common lawyers, when he was studying under George Wythe.

[25] Later, in 1814, Jefferson mentioned the preface of Fortescue Aland's Reports of Select Cases with approval of his learning, when writing to Thomas Cooper.