On the death of George Brown of Coalston, Macqueen was elevated to the bench on 13th December, 1776, and assumed the title of Lord Braxfield. He was also appointed a Lord Commissioner of Justiciary on 1st March, 1780, on the resignation of Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck. In the same year was published an anonymous “Letter to Robert Macqueen, Lord Braxfield, on his Promotion to be one of the Judges of the High Court of Justiciary” (Edinburgh, 12mo). This pamphlet, which points out the common failings of Scottish criminal judges is attributed by Lord Cockburn to James Boswell, the elder (“Circuit Journeys,” 1889 p. 322). On 15th January, 1788, Braxfield was appointed Lord Justice-Clerk, in succession to Thomas Miller of Barskimming, promoted to the Presidency of the Court of Session. He held that important office during a very interesting and critical period; and presided at the trials of Muir, Palmer, Margarot, and others, who were indicted for sedition in 1793-4, in the course of which he let fall from the bench the _obiter dictum_--“I never likit the French a’ my days, but now I hate them.” “In these,” says Lord Cockburn, “he was the Jeffreys of Scotland. He, as the head of the Court, and the only very powerful man it contained, was the real director of its proceedings” (“Memorials of his Time,” 1856, p. 116). The conduct of Braxfield during these memorable trials has been freely censured in recent times as having been marked by great and unnecessary severity; but, the truth is, he was extremely well fitted for the crisis in which he was called on to perform so conspicuous a part, for by the bold and fearless front he assumed, he contributed not a little to curb the lawless spirit that was abroad, and which threatened a repetition of that reign of terror and anarchy which so fearfully devastated a neighbouring country. As an instance of his great nerve, it is recorded that Braxfield, after the trials were over, which was generally about midnight, always walked home to his house in George Square alone and unprotected, though he constantly commented openly on the conduct of the Radicals, and more than once observed in public, “They would a’ be muckle the better o’ being hangit!” After a laborious and very useful life, Braxfield died at his residence, No. 28 George Square, Edinburgh, on 30th May, 1799, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and was buried at Lanark on 5th June following. Before taking up his residence in George Square, Braxfield lived for many years in Covenant Close. He was twice married. By his first wife, Mary Agnew, niece of Sir Andrew Agnew, he had two sons and two daughters; by his second wife; Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Chief Baron Ord, he had no children.