Middle Shires, the
the name given to the Borders after the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603.
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”
Ministro
minister
minor
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.
misprision of treason
having knowledge of a treasonable act or intent but failing to inform on it.