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).
To find a term within the glossary, click on the initial letter of the word you are looking for, then select the relevant syllable segment displayed below.
Example: to find the term “roup” select section “R” then sub-section “Ro”
usually the administrator of an estate, but can be any agent whose powers depend on some specific authority within which he acts. A judicial factor is one appointed by a court to manage the property of someone unable to manage it for themselves.
default, fail to comply with something, or non-fulfillment of a legal obligation.
a measure of distance and area, from the Old Norse fale, meaning a ‘pole’ or ‘perch’. This was the equivalent of the English measure, the ‘pole’. See the Knowledge Base entry on Distance and Area.
rumour; often encountered in kirk session minutes.
the study of the ancestry and context of families, including the events and circumstances which shaped their lives and relationships. Often regarded as synonymous with genealogy, but may be regarded as more concerned with context and history rather than limited to names, dates and places of vital events.