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).
the tithes of corn and other crops belonging
to a parson, sometimes called decimae rectorae
(rectorage teinds) or decimae garbales
(teind sheaves); see teinds
the parts and pertinents are what a piece
of land was always granted with; they implied
everything connected with the land granted whether
names or not, and could be considerable
more often used than the alternative name,
Whitsun - the seventh Sunday after Easter; it
was one of the two terms of the year on which
rents fell due
permutation
the equivalent of excambion
in heritable property; this is the exchange
of one piece of moveable property for another
(therefore a posh word for barter)
a diligence
(enforced by letter under the signet called
"letters of poinding") whereby ownership
of a debtor's moveable
property is transferred to his creditor.
"Real poinding" or "poinding
of the ground" is the poinding of goods
lying on lands which are a security for the
debt; "personal poinding" is the poinding
of moveables which are then sold at auction
(or "made penny of" in the usual phrase)
the proceeds of which are used to pay the debt.
If there is more than one creditor, there may
be an action of multiple
poinding raised by the debtor
an order by a superior to his baillie
representing him, to give heritable possession
of lands to a vassal, which could only be done
by the ceremony of sasine. Originally
these precepts were documents in their own right,
but after 1672 they were incorporated in charters.
The precept of clare
constat would be used if sasine was to be
given to an heir of a deceased vassal
the start of the process whereby lands which
had been pledged as security for the repayment
of a debt could be redeemed by their original
owner; it was the notice given to the person
then holding the lands to turn up at a stated
time and place to receive repayment of his money
and to restore the lands to his former debtor
(who was called the reverser)
a means whereby a right might be lost or acquired
due to lapse of time; for example, long uninterrupted
and unchallenged possession of property (usucaption)
would confer a right to it, whereas if someone
possessing a particular right did not exercise
it for long enough, he might lose it
presentation
the act by which the patron of a church appointed
its minister; his right to do so was his advowson
One of the four royal seals; the privy or
secret seal was originally used for royal orders
or brieves,
but later came to be used for such things as
grants of moveable
property and grants of minor offices
pro bono servicio
"for [his] good service" is the
reason for a grant of lands usually given in
the narrative clause of a charter when the lands
are to be held in wardholding,
that is, for a return of military service
the authority granted by a vassal
to his representative (who is in this case called
his procurator) to restore the lands held by
the vassal to his superior,
either to remain in the superior's hands, or
to be granted out again for example, by a charter
of novodamus;
this resignation was neccesary if the vassal
sold his lands to someone else, who would then
have to have the lands re-granted by ths superior
to him to complete his title.
all the documents relating to rights in a
piece of land and their transference from person
to person; it is typically a bundle containing
charters, precepts and instruments of sasine,
tacks,
wadsets,
reversions
and the like
a book which a notary was obliged to keep,
in which he was supposed to keep copies of all
the instruments he had executed, or summaries
of their essential points
a child younger than 12 if female or 14 if
male; one older than that (but still not 21)
was a minor. Pupils might have their affairs
administered by a tutor
Purpresture was a delinquency (a feudal crime)
as a result of which a vassal
could suffer forfeiture of his lands, for the
offence of encroaching on streets, highways
or commons belonging to his superior; purprision
is generally the illegal encroachment on (or
enclosure of) lands or property belonging to
another
