could just be the Scots for ‘rode’.  But in the Borders, going for a ride and what you did during it were so much part of each other that the word passed into English with its alternative meaning of a predatory expedition on horseback.

a system of deciding, impartially, which creditors should have prior claim on a debtor’s estate; this was why it was so important to a wife to have an antenuptial marriage contract making provision for her and her children because, if she had, they would be entitled to be “ranked” among any creditors on her husband’s estate if he fell into debt.

confirmation of the correctness of a previous act or deed.

place where users visiting archives may see and use archival records; see also search room.

a feudal casualty, which entailed the return of a feuar’s lands to his superior on the grounds that he had sold or granted out the greater part of them without the superior’s consent.

a generic term covering the full range of specialisms in archives and records management.

the systematic control of records during creation, use, maintenance and disposition, to enable efficient and cost-effective access to information when required and disposal of that information when no longer required.

the method of identifying records created by an organisation, determining how long they should be kept and whether they should be destroyed or transferred to an archive service when they are no longer required for business use.

Latin phrase meaning ‘by returning’.  The name of the clause in a charter which lays down what has to be returned or paid for the grant, to the superior granting the lands.  The precise terms vary depending on which of the four types of charter the clause is in; if the charter is in fee or feu, the return will be a rent paid to the superior, if in free alms the return will be prayers or other spiritual services.  If in ward holding the return will be the performance of service, usually military, and if in blench ferme, the return will be nominal and only required if asked for.

a grant, usually made in security for the repayment of a debt, which contains a clause providing that the granter or another can recover possession of what has been granted, on the payment of a certain sum to the person receiving the grant, constitutes a ‘redeemable right’; its common form is the wadset.

the name of an action in the Court of Session whereby illegal deeds, decrees, acts and so on could be rendered null and void.

a unique code, usually alpha-numeric, used to identify an item to facilitate its storage and retrieval when required.

an extensive area of jurisdiction granted by the Crown, the holder of which had similarly extensive powers in criminal cases, the same in effect as those of the king’s own justices in ayre.

‘the Registers of the Kings of Scots’, the name of a project to trace, edit and publish all the charters, brieves and other written acts of the Scots kings from the earliest times until the accession of James I in 1406. Sometimes abbreviated to R.R.S.

the Latin for the Register of the Great Seal (the abbreviation is mainly used to refer to the printed edition of this register), which contains copies of charters and other deeds by the Crown issued under the Great Seal.

Latin for the Registers of the Secret (or privy) Seal (the abbreviation is mainly used to refer to the printed edition); these contain copies of royal orders, commissions, minor grants and other documents issued under the king’s secret seal.

purchasing goods for market and then selling such goods at inflated prices; often appears in documents as ‘regrating and forestalling‘.

a written promise by the superior of a feuar who had granted his lands to another as a security for the repayment of a debt under a redeemable right, by which the superior undertook to re-admit the debtor (or reverser as he would be called) as his feuar once the debt had been cleared and the lands returned to him.

theft.  Those who do it are ‘reiffers’ or ‘reivers’

the antidote to diligence; these were letters under the signet which freed a debtor from the consequences of any diligence against him, such as horning.