The Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) Glossary defines archaic words and phrases, mostly Scots law terminology, commonly found in documents and records in Scotland's archives. If you think a word or phrase should be added to the glossary, or an existing entry could be defined better, please contact us. Since the SCAN project ended, the Dictionary of the Scots Language has gone online at http://www.dsl.ac.uk/, and this should be consulted for Scots words and phrases (including legal terms).
baillie, bailie, baile, baille, bailze, bailzie
a magistrate; but 'baillies in that pairt' (part) are representatives appointed to carry out a specific function, usually the giving of sasine. People appointed thus by the Crown are 'sheriffs in that pairt'. The term can also be used to indicate a farm servant, for example a 'cow bailie' was a stockman in charge of cattle.
strictly speaking, someone
who holds his lands ('barony') direct from
the Crown, which used to be accompanied by
certain privileges, particularly as regards
the administration of justice
base right the right of someone holdings
lands from a formervassalwho had granted (usually
sold) the lands to him, and not from thesuperiorof the lands. It
can also be called "base ( or base) fee.
What would normally happen in such a case, would
be that the seller would undertake in the grant
to get the buyer infeftby the superior of the
land also, so that he would have two titles to
it
or 'blench holding'. One of the four
conditions in Scots law on which lands could
be granted; in this case, the lands were held
for nominal payment, usually a 'penny
money' or a peppercorn, which was only to
be paid if it was asked for (si tamen
petatur in Latin). This type of
holdings was most common when lands had been
bought by someone; the seller would be (in
theory) the granter of the lands, but in practice
would have not further rights in them. (If
the buyer held the lands from the seller alone,
and not from the superior
also, he would have a base right).
boat
cask; butt; barrel; tub
boll
dry measure of weight or capacity which varied
according to the commodity and locality (eg
a boll of meal weighed 140lbs, approximately
63.5kg; valuation of land according to the
quantity of bolls it produced; payment in
food to a farm labourer
in general, a written obligation to pay
or perform something; a bond of corroboration
is an additional confirmation by a debtor
of his original debt (for example to the ancestor
of the obligor); a bond of caution is an obligation
by one person to act as security or
surety for another; a bond of relief is an
undertaking to relieve such a cautioner from
his obligation; a bond of disposition in security
was the commonest form of heritable security
in the 19th century, combining a personal
bond by the borrower with a disposition of
the lands on which the sum was secured.
Most unusual was the bond of manrent, an obligation
by a free person to become the follower of
someone who could protect him, who would in
turn, undertake to support and maintain him
any written royal order in the king's name,
typically under his privy seal; most usually
a brieve of inquisition, ordering an enquiry
to identify the heir to lands
broken men
landless men; generally assumed to be living
by spuilzie, stouthrief and such unpleasant
means, commonly in the Borders and verges
of the Highlands
bull
loosely used for any papal document, but
strictly speaking, a written grant of privilege
by a Pope
