de facto
Latin term meaning ‘in fact’, or it can be applied to indicate something which has been actually done.
The Your Scottish Archives 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 at your@scottisharchives.org.uk.
You can also use the Dictionary of the Scots Language as a further resource at https://dsl.ac.uk/ for Scots words and phrases (including legal terminology).
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Latin term meaning ‘in fact’, or it can be applied to indicate something which has been actually done.
the process of permanently removing accessioned items.
the part of someone’s moveable estate which they are entitled to dispose of by testament after death; see bairn’s part and jus relictae, which are the other parts.
the head of the guildry in a royal burgh, later also a magistrate in a police burgh (including royal burghs) with responsibility for building control until local government re-organisation in 1975 (see Knowledge Base for more details)
Latin phrase meaning a ‘debt of the land’; indicates a debt secured over the land and arising directly out of it, e.g. arrears of feu-duty.
Latin phrase meaning ‘dies without issue’; indicates a person who died without having children, and is used in older family trees.
a form of action to have some right or interest declared by law.
a decree of the Teind Court, allocating what particular proportions of such a modified stipend would be paid by each of the parish heritors.
a decree of the Teind Court, modifying a clergyman’s stipend.
a decree of the Teind Court, determining the extent and value of a heritor’s teinds.
the final judgement or sentence of a court.
the award of arbiters on a point or points at issue jointly submitted to them by the parties in the dispute.
in the most usual Scottish sense, a formal written document in a set form which gives the terms of an agreement, contract or obligation; normally authenticated by the author’s signature, signatures of witnesses and a testing clause; for practical purposes, any document which isn’t a sasine or concerned with the transfer of heritable property.
the Scottish term for the party who is defending in a court action.
hindering or resisting officers of the law in the course of their duty (in civil matters)
Scots term meaning the deceased person.
allowance due to a shipmaster or shipowner for the time a ship is held up longer than usual while loading or unloading.
someone who makes a deposition before a court.
the method of transferring records to an archive service without transfer of legal title, usually to enable long-term preservation and public access; normally this is subject to a deposit agreement for an indefinite period. Many records are legally inalienable and remain the property of the body which created it or its lawful successor such as Church of Scotland records.
the testimony of a witness put down in writing.