Events from the year 1738 in Scotland.
Incumbents
- Secretary of State for Scotland: vacant
Law officers
Judiciary
- Lord President of the Court of Session – Lord Culloden
- Lord Justice General – Lord Ilay
- Lord Justice Clerk – Lord Milton
Events
- 22 May – foundation stone of George Watson's College in Edinburgh is laid.
- Anderston Weavers' Society established in Glasgow.
Births
- 19 May – Sir James Grant, 8th Baronet, politician (died 1811)
- 12 December (bapt.) – William Cochran, portrait painter (died 1785)
- 19 December – James Playfair, minister of religion and scholar (died 1819)
- Alexander Henderson, merchant and politician in Virginia, "father of the American chain store" (died 1815 in the United States)
- Probable date – James Dickson, botanist (died 1822 in London)
Deaths
- 4 January – George Douglas, 13th Earl of Morton, politician (born 1662)
- 25 March – Robert Murray, British Army officer and politician (born 1689)