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).
could just be the Scots for "rode".
But in the Borders, going for a ride and what
you did during it were so much part of each
other that the word passed into English with
its alternative meaning.
ranking of
creditors
a system of deciding, impartially, which creditors
should have prior claim on a debtor's estate;
this was why it was so important to a
wife to have an antenuptial
marriage contract making provision for her
and her children because, if she had, they would
be entitled to be "ranked" among any
creditors on her husband's estate if he fell
into debt
ratification
confirmation of the correctness of a previous
act or deed
another feudal casualty,
which entailed the return of a vassal's lands
to his superior on the grounds that he had sold
or granted out the greater part of them without
the superior's consent
"by returning". The name of
the clause in a charter which lays down what
has to be returned or paid for the grant, to
the superior granting the lands. The precise
terms vary depending on which of the four types
of charter the clause is in; if the charter
is in fee
or feu, the return will be a rent paid to
the superior, if in free
alms the return will be prayers or other
spiritual services. If in ward holding
the return will be the performance of service,
usually military, and if in blench
ferme, the return will be nominal and only
required if asked for
a grant, usually made in security for the
repayment of a debt, which contains a clause
providing that the granter or another can recover
possession of what has been granted, on the
payment of a certain sum to the person receiving
the grant, constitutes a "redeemable right";
its common form is the wadset
an extensive area of jurisdiction granted
by the Crown, the holder of which had similarly
extensive powers in criminal cases, the same
in effect as those of the king's own justices
in ayre.
"the Registers of the Kings of Scots",
the name of a project to trace, edit and publish
all the charters, brieves
and other written acts of the Scots kings from
the earliest times until the accession of James
I in 1406. (Sometimes abbreviated to R.R.S)
a written promise by the superior
of a vassal
who had granted his lands to another as a security
for the repayment of a debt under a redeemable
right, by which the superior undertook to re-admit
the debtor (or reverser
as he would be called) as his vassal once the
debt had been cleared and the lands returned
to him
takes places when a lease is assumed to have
been renewed because a tenant has been allowed
to continue in possession of his holding after
the expiry of his lease, without any new lease
having been agreed between him and the proprietor
of the land
a power held by certain landholders who had
jurisdiction in criminal cases, enabling them
to demand the person of an offender who stood
accused before another court, for trial and
sentence in their own
repone
to restore someone's right to defend a case,
even though a decree may have already been given
against him
reset, resett
receipt of stolen goods, knowing them to be
stolen
the action by which a vassal restored his
lands to his feudal superior. Resignation into
the hands of the superior was either for the
purpose of a regrant to a third party (resignation
in favorem) or, less commonly, to remain
in the superior's own hands (resignation ad
remanentiam); see novodamus,
procuratory
of resignation
respite,
letters of
letters granted by the Crown which put a delay
or stay on something usually granted for the
purpose of delaying any court sentence against
the person to whom they were granted, but
they could be to stop him being pursued for
debt; such letters were usually granted to
people abroad on the king's service
a record kept by the Exchequer recording all
duties arising out of non-entries and reliefs
which were payable by heirs to lands of which
the Crown was the superior
the report of any inquest which had been held
to determine who was next heir to the property
of a dead vassal
who had held his lands of the Crown; it
was in effect the reply to a brieve
of inquisition. Once the inquest had
made up their minds, the retour would be "retoured"
(returned) to the king's Chancery. A "special
retour" established the heir's right to
succeed to particular lands
retrocession
a re-conveyance of any right by a person to
whom it had been assigned, back to the person
from whom he got it.
the proprietor of lands which had been granted
by him to another as security for the repayment
of a debt, under a redeemable right; he therefore
had the right, when the debt was repaid, to
resume possession of the lands from the lender,
who was called the wadsetter, the deed by which
all this was done being the wadset. The
reverser would need letters of regress from
his superior undertaking to accept him again
as vassal when the lands were restored.
Reversion was simply the right of redeeming
heritable property; letters of reversion were
an undertaking by the lender who held lands
in security of repayment of a debt (the wadsetter)
to restore these lands to the borrower from
whom he had got them (the reverser) when the
debt was repaid.
revocation
a deed, or a clause in a deed, which calls
back or revokes some former deed
the abbreviation for Registrum Magni Sigilli,
the Register of the Great Seal (mainly the printed
edition), which contains copies of charters
and other deeds by the Crown issued under the
Great Seal
Registrum Secreti Sigilli, the Registers of
the Secret (or privy) Seal, mainly used to refer
to the printed edition; these contain copies
of royal orders, commissions, minor grants and
other documents issued under the king's secret
seal.
lands consisting of alternate ridges in a
field, which belong to different proprietors;
sometimes the lands consisted of alternative
portions each belonging to different people
which were bigger than mere ridges, and this
might be called rundale or rindal.
