Law, Hugh Alexander (1872–1943), politician and lawyer, was born in Dublin, second son of Hugh Law (qv), of Co. Down, later lord chancellor of Ireland, and his wife Ellen Maria, daughter of William White of Dublin. Educated at Rugby and University College, Oxford, he served as Irish parliamentary party MP for Donegal West (1902–18). A supporter of the pro-war policy of John Redmond (qv) during the first world war, he held a number of administrative positions in London: in the secretariat of the Ministry of Munitions (1915–16), the news department of the Foreign Office (1916–18), and the advisory council of the Ministry of Reconstruction (1918).
After the war he returned to Ireland and served as a member of the Congested Districts Board (1919) and the housing committee of the Local Government Board. Retiring from politics in 1918, having left the Irish parliamentary party in protest at its cooperation with Sinn Féin in the anti-conscription campaign, he pursued a legal career, was called to the Irish bar (1919), and was also a member of the English bar. Seeking to return to politics in 1923, he stood unsuccessfully as a Farmers’ Party candidate for Dáil Éireann in that year, was elected Cumann na nGaedheal TD for Donegal in the June 1927 general election, but lost his seat in 1932. During his time as a TD he was severely criticised for refusing to support legislation on censorship.
He was noted as a writer on Irish issues; his principal publications include The Irish poor law and the blessings of English government (1909), Why is Ireland at war? (1915), Ireland (with the Rev. R. H. Murray, in the ‘Nations of today’ series, 1924), and Anglo-Irish literature (1926). Active in the Gaelic League and the industrial revival movement, he also had a strong interest in the Irish literary revival and was a close friend of George Russell (qv), who regularly stayed at Law's home in Co. Donegal.
He married Charlotte, daughter of the Rev. Alexander George Stuart of Bogay, Co. Donegal. They lived at Marble Hill, Ballymore, Co. Donegal and had one son, who became an officer in the British army, and three daughters. In 1912 Law converted from protestantism to catholicism, and was later appointed a Knight of Grace of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta. He died 2 April 1943 in a nursing home in Dún Laoghaire, leaving an estate of £1,100.