Called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1837, he published in 1841 a 'Practical Treatise on the Law relating to Infants' (Edinburgh, 8vo), which attracted notice owing to its learning and accuracy.
In 1846 he went to India to practice at the Indian bar, and in 1848 was given by Sir Laurence Peel, chief-justice of Bengal, the post of master of equity in the supreme court in Calcutta.
He spent nearly two years (1854–5) in England on leave, and finally left India in March 1859.
The Indian Succession Act of 1865 illustrates the value of the commission's labours, but owing to the Indian government's desire to exercise more direct control over the undertaking, the commission was dissolved in December 1870.
In June 1874 he became legal adviser to the India office, and in September 1879 exchanged that post for that of secretary in the judicial department.
He married, on 9 January 1851, Diana Macleod Johnston, who died in 1880, and left issue.