the servants of a court; mace-bearers and ushers.

mail is the Scots word for rent; maills and duties were the yearly rents of an estate due in money or grain. An action of mails and duties was a form of diligence by which a heritable creditor obtained rents due.

a fairly unusual form of bond, by which a free person became the servant, follower or bondsman of another, in return for patronage or protection

a handwritten document.

a silver coin worth 13 shillings 4 pence (or two-thirds of a pound) Scots, and therefore just over one shilling sterling at the time of the Union; common also as a unit of valuation of land, as in ‘the two merklands of ault extent of Glaur’

royal letters authorising those who had been injured by foreigners and been unable to obtain satisfaction, to take reprisals.

a feudal casualty which entitled the superior of a property to demand a payment from the heir to that property when the heir married or became marriageable; see non-entry, relief, wardship.

a contract made between the promised husband or husband of a woman who was about to marry or just had, and her male relatives, settling the provision to be made for the wife or future wife.  The idea was to improve on the legal rights of the wife or future wife and any children of the marriage, usually by the husband agreeing to grant them a liferent, or to grant the wife an annuity (the jointure), which would safeguard against any risk of the husband becoming insolvent.   The contract could be made before marriage, when it was termed an ‘ante-nuptial contract’, or it could be ‘post-nuptial’ if made after; the ante-nuptial version gave the wife and children much stronger rights over the husband’s estate should  get into debt, because they would then be entitled to be considered as his creditors.

11 November; one of the term days (with Whitsunday) when contracts, leases and tacks began and ended and rents fell due; and one of the quarter days (with Whitsunday, Lammas and Candlemas) when bills were settled. Arising from the Feast of St Martin in the calendar of the Christian church.

cattle paid as part of a rent at Martinmas (11 November)

mare, female horse; wooden frame on which wrongdoers had to ‘ride’ as a public punishment; wooden frame used on a trestle to support scaffolding; bricklayer’s hod.

a Scots phrase meaning “have dealings with”; used in a testament, it applies to the executor’s disposal of the deceased’s property.

the officer who executed all legal summonses and letters of diligence.

the main residence of dwelling-house of a baron, and therefore the ‘head place’ of his barony. This was the approximate equivalent to the English ‘manor-house’.

the name given to the Borders after the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603.

minister

someone who is older than 12 if female or 14 if male, but still under the age of 21; however ‘minority’ can be used in a wider sense to refer to the whole period of a person’s life from birth until they reach 21.  Minors may have curators who are appointed to look after their affairs; see also pupil and nonage.

having knowledge of a treasonable act or intent but failing to inform on it.

a decree of the Teind Court, awarding a suitable stipend to a minister.

interfering with someone’s peaceful possession of their lands.