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”
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’.