William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield,, was a British barrister, politician and judge best known for his reforms to English law. Born in Scone Palace, Perthshire into the Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth before moving to London at the age of 13 to study at Westminster School. Accepted into Christ Church, Oxford, in May 1723, Mansfield graduated four years later and returned to London, where he was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in November 1730 and quickly gained a reputation as an excellent barrister.