staff and baton (fustum et baculum in Latin)
symbols used to represent a feuar’s resignation of his lands into the lands of his superior.
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”
steelbow goods
corn, cattle, ploughs and similar implements which might be given by a landlord to his tenant farmer to enable him to stock and maintaining the lands leased by him; for this, the tenant was bound to return goods of equal quality and quantity at the expiry of his lease.
stent
a valuation of the annual value of land or an assessment (tax) based on that valuation.
stent roll
a valuation roll.
stipend
a regular payment made in money, grain or both for the support of a parish minister, which was renewable (and re-negotiable) every five years.
stone
measure of Scots weight. In Scots weight 16 pounds made a stone (from the word ‘stone’, i.e. a small piece of rock), although the avoirdupois stone was divided into 14 pounds. For further details, see Weights.
stot
bullock.
stoup, stowp
wooden pail; flagon; tankard; mug; jug for milk or cream.
stouthrief
as rief implies, it is a form of theft; this one is theft committed by force, and not in a clandestine way.