James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Morton (died 1548) was a son of John Douglas, 2nd Earl of Morton and a grandson of James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton and Joan of Scotland, a daughter of James I of Scotland. He married Catherine Stewart, an illegitimate daughter of King James IV of Scotland by his mistress Marion Boyd. The couple had three daughters; Margaret, Beatrix, and Elizabeth. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, husband of his daughter Elizabeth.
His daughter Lady Margaret Douglas married James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, who was heir presumptive to the Scottish throne after Mary, Queen of Scots prior to the birth of Queen Mary's son Prince James in 1566. Beatrix married Robert Maxwell, 6th Lord Maxwell. Morton's three daughters were all affected by mental ill-health.
In 1541, James V of Scotland ordered the Earl to travel to Inverness and enter ward (house-arrest). But the King met him on his way at Brechin on 17 October 1541. Morton resigned his titles to Dalkeith Palace and its lands to the King, and he was allowed to return home. The legal instrument was witnessed by David Beaton, Thomas Erskine of Haltoun, John Tennent, Oliver Sinclair of Pitcairns, Andrew Wood of Largo, and other prominent courtiers. The lands were immediately granted to Robert Douglas of Lochleven, the husband of the King's former mistress Margaret Erskine. Robert Douglas subsequently resigned the title to James V on 20 January 1542, withholding only Aberdour Castle.