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).
"feudal casualties" were payments
which fell due to a feudal superior when certain
events happened, usually to an heir to property
held from the superior; the usual casualties
were marriage, non-entry, relief and wardship
caution,
cautioner
security; bail; one who stands surety for another
surrender of a debtor's goods in favour of
his creditors
chalder
a measure, which varied from place to place
and depending on what it was a measure of.
When applied to grain, it was (about) 16 bolls,
the boll being (about) 6 imperial bushels
name of a
precept (an order), in which a
superior acknowledges that it 'clearly appears'
that someone is heir to landed property held
of the superior, and which orders the giving
of sasine
seal used by a customs house, applied to a
certificate (a "letter of cocket")
certifying that duty has been paid on goods
to be exported
cod,
coad
pillow, cushion
codware
pillowcase
cog
wooden container made of staves; pail; bowl
cognition and sasine
the process by which an heir is accepted into
property in a burgh
collation
applied to benefices;
it was the approval given by a bishop to appoint
someone to a church living
collegiate church
basically a church founded by a private person,
in free
alms
commendator
this was originally a churchman who levied
the income from a
benefice while it was vacant, but later
he was a layman who had a grant of a vacant
benefice for life
originally, one of a bishop's officials; but
after the Reformation an official of an organisation
called the Commissary Court; in both cases he
dealt with matters to do with inheritance, particularly
the confirmation of testaments
a payment made by an heir succeeding to land,
to the superior of the land
confirmation
the process of recognition by a court of law, for example where executors are empowered to secure or dispose of the deceased. The equivalent term in English law is 'probate'.
any title to lands held jointly, usually by
husband and wife; a 'conjunct' right is any
right held jointly
conjunctly and severally
an obligation or empowerment to two or more
people to do something, either acting singly
or in consort
cordinar,
cordiner
cordwainer; shoemaker
cottar, cotter
the tenant of cottage (a rural dwelling house, usually a small building attached to farm or agricultural estate). A group of such dwellings can be referred to as a cottarton (or cottertown etc) or a fermtoun.
the main court in Scotland which tries civil
cases
croft
a small agricultural holding, originally a general term (for example the house and large garden belonging to a burgess might be termed 'toft and croft'. After the Crofters Act of 1883 the term became a specific type of land tenure in the counties of Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Orkney, Ross and Cromarty, Shetland and Sutherland.
a person who is appointed to act for someone
else who cannot manage his own affairs, usually
someone who administers the estate of a minor
curn,
curne
literally, a single grain of corn, but usually
appearing as 'the third curn' or with another
number, indicating a proportion of the crop;
small number of quantity, a few
curtilage
a courtyard, or some other piece of ground lying
near or belonging to an occupied building
