The Scottish language has changed over the
years, being influenced by other languages and
cultures. This section provides you with a definition
of those words and phrases commonly found in
documents and records throughout Scotland's
archives. If you know of a word you would like
added to the Glossary then please contact
us.
in the most usual Scottish sense, a formal
written document in a set form which gives the
terms of an agreement, contract or obligation;
for practical purposes, any document which isn't
a sasine
or concerned with the transfer of heritable
property
nomination of successors to a property in
a specific order; seeentail
diem
clausit extremum
" he has closed his last day"; the
name of a royal order sent to a sheriff to enquire
into the death of a debtor of the Crown, and
to ensure the Crown is satisfied for the debt
a legal action to compel a defaulting party
to an obligation to pay or perform what he had
undertaken in the obligation; it comes in various
forms, depending on whether action is taken
against the defaulter's moveable
or
heritable property. Horning
and poinding
are the usual ones applied to moveables, inhibition
to heritable subjects.
the extent of a bishop's jurisdiction.
They continued important for long after the
Reformation, because the area of jurisdiction
of each
commissary was determined by the bounds
of the earlier diocese
"the lordship by usage"; the interest
which a vassal
had in landed property, that is, the right
to direct usage and enjoyment of the income
from the land
a judgement or sentence. "Falsing
the doom" was to make a protest against
a judgement on the grounds that you didn't like
it, before taking the matter to a higher court
