Common law and feudal society in medieval Scotland

by Hector L. MacQueen

The close links between Scots and English law in the Middle Ages have long been recognised, but S.F.C. Milsom has recently challenged the received views of English legal development. Common Law and Feudal Society assesses the relevance of the new approach to Scottish legal history, setting the development of medieval law within the context of a society in which private lordship, exercised through courts and other less formal methods of dispute settlement, played a key role alongside royal justice. Based on extensive research, this book examines the brieves of novel dissasine, mortancestry and right, and legal remedies for the recovery of the land, as well as aspects of the early history of the Scottish legal profession and the origins of the Court of Session. Exploring the relationship between law and society, this book is for social and legal historians alike.