He was educated in Edinburgh and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1802.

[3] In 1823, Scarlett successfully descended a man against a charge of libel brought by the Duke of Manchester, the Governor of Jamaica.

The case began when Louis Celeste Lecesne and John Escoffery were arrested on 7 October 1823 under the Alien Act by a warrant of the Duke of Manchester, the Governor of Jamaica.

They were considered by the Attorney General, William Burge to be of a dangerous character and to be aliens as they were claimed to be Haitians.

Luckily they had time to raise a writ of Habeas Corpus in the Supreme Court of Jamaica[4] Scarlett released them, but it took Parliament to uphold his decision.