1 See, eg, T. M. Cooper, Lord Cooper of Culross, Select Scottish Cases of the Thirteenth Century (Edinburgh and London, 1944) lix-lxiii; The Scottish Legal Tradition (Edinburgh and London, 1949) reprinted in Selected Papers 1922–1954 (Edinburgh and London, 1957) 172 at 175–177; The Dark Age of Scottish Legal History, 1350–1650 (Glasgow, 1952) reprinted in Selected Papers at 219–236; ‘From David I to Bruce, 1124–1329, The Scoto-Norman Law’ in (G.C.H. Paton, ed], An Introduction to Scottish Legal History (Stair Society, vol20, Edinburgh, 1958 (1959)) at 3–17.

2 Cooper, Select Scottish Cases, xxi–xxii.

3 Ibid, lxii.

4 Cooper, Scottish Legal Tradition, in Selected Papers, 175.

5 D. M. Walker, The Scottish Legal System, 1st edn (Edinburgh, 1959) 69–81 (hereinafter cited as SLS).

6 See Walker, SLS, 2nd edn (Edinburgh, 1963) 35–48; 3rd edn (Edinburgh, 1969) 124–138; 4th edn (Edinburgh, 1976) 86–99; 5th edn (Edinburgh, 1981) 86–99.

7 See Walker, SLS, 1st edn, 81; 2nd edn, 48; 3rd edn, 138; 4th edn, 99.

8 See Walker, SLS, 5th edn, 99.

9 See Walker, SLS, 4th edn, 100–101; 5th edn, 100–101.

10 Cooper,Dark Age, in Selected Papers, 226.

11 Cooper, ‘From David I to Bruce, 1124–1329’ in Introduction to Scottish Legal History, 3.

12 T. M. Cooper, Lord Cooper of Culross, ed, The Register of Brieves as Contained in the Ayr MS., the Bute MS. and Quoniam Attachiament (The Stair Society, vol 10, Edinburgh, 1946) 3.

13 G. W. S. Barrow, The Kingdom of the Scots (London, 1973) 88.

14 Sellar, W. D. H., ‘Celtic Law and Scots Law: Survival and Integration’, [1989) 29 Scottish Studies 1 Google Scholar

15 See, eg, G. W. S. Barrow, The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History (Oxford, 1980).

16 Barrow, Kingdom of the Scots, 69–82.

17 McKechnie, H., Judicial Process upon Brives, 1219–1532 (Glasgow, 1956) 19.Google Scholar

18 Harding, A., ‘The Medieval Brieves of Protection and the Development of the Common Law’ (1966) Juridical Review 115 Google Scholar; MacQueen, H. L., ‘The Brieve of Right in Scots Law’ (1982) 3 Journal of Legal History 52 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; ‘Dissasine and Mortancestor in Scots Law’ (1983) 4 Journal of Legal History 21; ‘Pleadable Brieves, Pleading and the Development of Scots Law’ (1986) 4 Law and History Review 403; and ‘The Brieve of Right Re-Visited’ in R. Eales and D. Sullivan, eds, The Political Context of Law (London and Ronceverte, 1987) 17.

19 J. J.Robertson, ‘The Development of the Law’, in J. M. Brown, ed, Scottish Sociely in the Fifteenth Century (London, 1977) 136.

20 W. D. H. Sellar, ‘The Common Law of Scotland and the Common Law of England’, in R. R. Davies, ed, The British Isles, 1100–1500 (Edinburgh, 1988) 82.

21 See Walker, SLS, 1st edn, 81; 2nd edn, 49; 3rd edn, 138; 4th edn, 99–100; 5th edn, 99.

22 The leading articles on Regiam Majestatem are: Buchanan, J., ‘The Mss. of Regiam Majestatem: an Experiment’ (1937) 49 Juridical Review 217 Google Scholar; H. G. Richardson, ‘Roman Law in the Regiam Majestatem’ (1955) 67 Juridical Review 155; A. A. M. Duncan, ‘Regiam Mujestatem: A Reconsideration’ (1961) Juridical Review 199; P. Stein, ‘The source of the Romano-canonical part of the Regiam Majestatem’ (1969) 48 Scottish Historical Review 107; and A. Harding ‘Regiam Majestatem Amongst Medieval Law Books’ (1984) Juridical Review 97.

23 Regiam majestatem Scotiae, veteres leges et constitutiones, ex archiuis publicis, et antiquis libris manuscriptis collectae, recognitae … opera et studio Johannis Skenaci (Edinburgh, 1609); Regiam Majestatem. The Auld Lawes and Constitutions of Scotland. Faithtullie collected furth of the Register, and other auld authentick Bukes … and trewlie corrected in Sindrie Faults and Errours, committed be ignorant Writers. And translated out of Latine in Scottish Language, to the Use and Knawledge of all the Subjects within this Realme … Be sir John Skene of Curriehill (Edinburgh, (1609); Cooper, ed, Regiam Majestatem and Quoniam Attachmenta Based on the Text of Sir john Skene (Stair Society, vol 11, Edinburgh, 1947).

24 Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, ed by Thomson, T. and Innes, C., 12 vols (Record Commission [Edinburgh], 181475) vol i, 597–641. Google Scholar

25 Cooper, ed, Regiam Majestatem, 43–45.

26 Duncan, op cit.

27 Harding, , ‘Regiam Majestatem’, 110 and Passim.. Google Scholar

28 Ibid, 111.

29 Walker, SLS, 1st edn, 78–79; 2nd edn, 45–46; 3rd edn, 135–136.

30 Ibid, 4th edn, 100–101; 5th edn, 100–101.

31 Ibid, 1st edn, 78; see also, 2nd edn, 45; and with only trivial changes in wording, 3rd edn, 135.

32 Ibid, 4th edn, 100; 5th edn, 100.

33 D. M. Walker, The Scottish Juritts (Edinburgh, 1985) 13–15, and 18.

34 MacQueen, H. L., Review of Walker, The Scottish Jurists in (1986) 6 Legal Studies 107 at 109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

35 Cooper, , ed, Regiam Majestatem, 25.Google Scholar

36 Duncan, , op cit, 216 Google Scholar

37 His footnote, 197, reads (p 130): M. Letts, The Sachsenspiegel and its Illustrators (1939) 49 LQR 555. See also Harding, A.,Reginm Majestatem amongst Medieval Law-books, 1984 JR 97. Despite the way this is phrased, his paragraph clearly derives from Harding's arguments, not Lett's article. Google Scholar

38 See Duncan, op cit, 200 and n 4; Buchanan, op cit, 224–225.

39 Duncan, , op cit, 202 Google Scholar

40 Cooper, , ed, Register of Brivers, 22 Google Scholar

41 On Craig, see Baird Smith, D., ‘Sir Thomas Craig, Feudalist’ (1915) 12 Scottish Historical Review 27 1; J.W. Cairns, ‘The Breve Testatum and Craig's Jus Feudale’ (1988) 56 Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 307. Google Scholar

42 McKechnie, op cit, 6. The passage is from T. Craig, Jus Feudale (Edinburgh, 1732) II.xvii.25.

43 McKechnie, , op cit, 6 Google Scholar

44 Ibid.

45 Cooper, , ed, Register of Brieves 22.Google Scholar

46 Regesta Regum Scottorum, vol i: The Acts of Malcolm IV King of Scots 1153–1156, collected and edited by G. W. S. Barrow (Edinburgh, 1960) (Hereinafter cited as RRSI); Regesta Regum Scottorum, vol ii: The Acts of William I King of Scots 1165–1214, ed by G.W. S. Barrow with the collaboration of W. W. Scott (Edinburgh, 1971) (hereinafter cited as RRS 11); A. C. Lawrie, Early Scottish Chartns Prior to A. D. 1153 (Glasgow, 1905) (hereinafter cited as ESC); A. C. Lawrie, Annals of the Reigns of Malcolm and William Kings of Scotland AD. 1153–1214 (Glasgow, 1910) (hereinafter cited as Lawrie, Annals).

47 P. R. Hyams, King, Lords and Peasants in Medieval England: The Common Law of Villeinage in the Twelth and Thirteenth Centuries (Oxford, 1980) 230–233.

48 RRSI, 62

49 ESC, 57–58 and 121.

50 RRSI, 62.

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid, 62–43.

53 Ibid, 63.

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid 164.

56 See RRSI, 64–45; RRS II, 71–73.Google Scholar

57 Harding, A., ‘The Medieval Brieves of Protection and the Development of the Common Law’ (1966) Juridical Review 115 Google Scholar

58 RRS II, 71

59 RRS I, 65–67; RRS II, 73–74 Google Scholar

60 Cooper, ed, Register of Brieves 8–18.

61 Ibid, 39–40: Ayr MS. Styles xviii and xix; MacQueen, ‘The Brieve of Right’.

62 Cooper, , ed, Register of Brieves, 13; and See also Cooper, , ed, Regiam Majestatem, 213. Google Scholar

63 See eg, MacQueen, , ‘The Brieve of Right Re-Visited’, 18. Google Scholar

64 See ibid, generally; and see now also H. L. MacQueen and W.J. Windrarn, ‘Laws and Courts in the Burghs’, in M. Lynch et al, eds, The Scottish Medieval Town (Edinburgh, 1988) 208.

65 MacQueen, , ‘The Brieve bf Right Re-Visited’, 21–24; Regiam Majestatem, 1.9, in Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol i, 601.Google Scholar

66 Compare p 263 with MacQueen, ‘The Brieve of Right’, 52–53.

67 See MacQueen, , ‘The Brieve of Right’, 55. Google Scholar

68 See MacQueen, ‘Dissasine and Mortancestor in Scots Law’, 32–38.

69 Compare MacQueen, ‘the Brieve of Right’, 52–53 Cooper Select Scottish Cures, no 28, 40–41; MacQueen, ‘Dissasine and Mortancestor in Scots Law’, 33; Barrow, Kingdom of the Scots, 115–116; Walker does point out Barrow's differing view in his note 111, p 298.

70 G. Neilson, Trial by Combat (London and Glasgow, 1890) 75–146.

71 W. D. H. Sellar, ‘Courtesy, Battle and the Brieve of Right, 1368-A Story Continued’, in W. D. H. Sellar, ed, Miscellany II (Stair Society, vol 35, Edinburgh, 1984) I.

72 Lawrie, , Annals, 116.Google Scholar

73 RRS II, 192.

74 Ibid, 288–289; no 249 (RRS II, 284–285) concerns the patronage of a church.

75 Ibid, 289.

76 Lawrie, , Annals, 251 Google Scholar

77 On the Lex Irnitana, see Gonzála, J., ‘The Lex Irnitana: a New Flavian Municipal Law’ (1986) 76 Journal of Roman Studies 147; on the controversies over Justinian's Digest, see D. C. ‘The Battle of the Atlantic’ (1983) 2 Rechtshistorisches Journal 33; and, above all, D.J. Osler, ‘The Compilation of Justinian's Digest’ (1985) 102 Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Recthsgeschichte (Romantische Abteilung) 129. CrossRefGoogle Scholar

78 H. F. Jolowicz and B. Nicholas, Historical Introduction & the Study of Roman Law, 3rd edn (Cambridge, 1972) xiii–xiv.

79 See now, above all, Daube, D., ‘The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora. Legal and Theological Reflections’ (1967) 16 Catholic University Law Review 380. Google Scholar

80 See S. F. C. Milsom, The Legal Framework of English Feudalism (Cambridge, 1976); Milsom, Historical Foundations of the Common Law, 2nd edn (London and Toronto, 1981); and Palmer, R. C., ‘The Origins of Property in England’ (1985) 3 Law and History Review 1. CrossRefGoogle Scholar

* I am grateful for the comments and criticisms of my friends and colleagues Terry Anderson, Jim Kainen, Lili Levi, Hector MacQueen, and Alan Watson. This article was written when I was Visiting Professor of Law in the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. I want to thank my students there in the class of British Legal History, who helped me refine my thinking about the law in mediaeval Scotland.