1 August. One of the quarter days (with Candlemas, Martinmas and Whitsunday) when bills were settled.

letters of lawburrows were raised by a pursuer fearing violence against him, his family or property by the defender who is thereby required to pay a sum of money (caution) as security that he will keep the peace in the future. They were issued in the monarch’s name under the signet seal and included the requirement to find ‘sufficient caution and surity’.

agreement for use of an asset. In Scotland, generally called a tack.

nothing to do with a lease (which is perhaps why leases are called tacks in Scotland); this is really the same as lese-majesty, verbal contempt of the Crown.

Latin term, indicating children’s legal share of their parent’s moveable property on death; also called bairn’s pairt of gear.

phrase found in testaments, as well as other documents, meaning legally (lawfully) and honestly. In later testaments the word used was ‘faithfully’.

in Scots law there were various types, those in the name of the Crown being under the signet seal; most of the types are covered under the headings, caption, cocket, diligence, fire and sword, horning, inhibition, lawburrows, marque, poinding, regress, reprisal, respite and slains.  ‘Letters of four forms’ were a form of diligence incorporating successive means of getting debtors to pay up.  They rapidly became obsolete; like apprising they may have been considered too abrupt for the popular taste, given that they seem to have been the horning, poinding and caption in one.

most often means the form of a complaint made in a civil case, or the grounds of the charge made against the accused in a criminal one; it can be used to mean scandalous statements made in writing about someone but in Scotland this is properly called defamation.

a Scots word used to introduce local names used in documents, or any Scots word or phrase brought into a Latin document.

the same idea as somebody making a will ‘sound in mind’; it was that state of health which would give someone full and undoubted power to arrange for the disposal of his heritable property in the event of his death.

the word commonly used to mean ‘the subject of the Crown’

a right entitling a person (called a ‘liferenter’) to use and enjoy another’s property for life, providing this was done without wasting it; the liferent might be a sum of money paid yearly, or the income from a piece of land.

commonly applied to broke men, sorners, and Borderers and Highlanders in general; it means ‘villains’ or ‘rogues’.

woollen jacket or cardigan; woollen or flannel undershirt.

a measure of dry capacity. Used to give amounts for dry goods, the lippie measure was different for wheat and barley. A quarter of a peck was a lippie (from the Anglo-Saxon leap, meaning a ‘basket’) or forpet. See Dry Capacity for further details.

in Scots law, this is the stage in a legal action when both parties in a case have stated their respective pleas in a court. It is then understood that, by doing so, the parties have consented to abide by the decision of the judge in the case. Litiscontestation is a recognised process in other legal jurisdictions (various American jurisdictions, for example)

the temporary transfer of records from one person or organisation to another; in an archive service this is usually for an exhibition or outreach activities and is subject to an agreement with a definite end date. See also deposit.

a teind court decree, allocating a stipend due to a minister in proportions among the various heritors liable to pay it; see modification valuation.

a sequel, being a small quantity of meal given to the servants of a mill for grinding it; see knaveship, sequel.

Latin phrase meaning ‘in the place of tutor’ (i.e. acting as tutor).