macers
the servants of a court; mace-bearers and ushers.
Your Scottish Archives Glossary
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”
mail, maills and duties
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.
manrent
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
manuscript
a handwritten document.
mark or merk
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’
marque, letters of
royal letters authorising those who had been injured by foreigners and been unable to obtain satisfaction, to take reprisals.
marriage contract
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.
Martinmas
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.
marts
cattle paid as part of a rent at Martinmas (11 November)