 James was restored to his lands on 14 October 1482, but has been generally supposed by Peerage writers not to have been restored to his honours.He was however sasine of various lands, on three different dates in October 1482, as James Lord Boyd, and was witness to a charter on January 1484 under the same designation.Nevertheless, he was killed in a feud with Hugh Montgomery of Eglintoun in 1484, when he must have been under sixteen.