Alastair McPherson Johnston, Lord Dunpark (1915–1991) was a Scottish judge. A controversial and sometimes very lenient judge he made several important rulings in Scots Law such as Porchetta v Porchetta which established that a child's rights were superior to the rights of a father (or mother) and the child's welfare was the paramount issue.[1]
He was born in Stirling on 15 December 1915 the son of Rev Alexander McPherson Johnston and his wife Eleanora Guthrie Wyllie.
He was created a Senator of the College of Justice in October 1971 with the title of Lord Dunpark. One of his first roles was as a Commissioner on the Scottish Law Commission.[2]
From 1969 to 1973 Lord Dunpark served as Chairperson of the influential Edinburgh conservationist organisation the Cockburn Association.[3]
He retired in 1990 aged 75, the maximum for service as a judge in Scotland.[4]
He died of prostate cancer in Edinburgh on 31 August 1991. He is buried in the modern extension to Dean Cemetery. The grave lies close to the south-east corner.
He married Katherine Margaret Mitchell (1914–1983), known as "Bunty". They were parents to Alan Johnston, Lord Johnston.[5]
Following Bunty's death in 1985 he married Kathleen Elizabeth Sarah Welsh (1919–2003) of County Monaghan in Ireland, widow of John C Macfie of 17 Heriot Row.[6] [7]