|
Scottish legal institutions in the High Middle Ages are, for the purposes of this article, the informal and formal systems which governed and helped to manage Scottish society between the years 900 and 1288, a period roughly corresponding with the general European era usually called the High Middle Ages. Scottish society in this period was predominantly Gaelic. Early Gaelic law tracts, first written down in the ninth century reveal a society highly concerned with kinship, status, honour and the regulation of blood feuds. The early Scottish lawman, or ''Breitheamh'', became the Latin Judex; the great ''Breitheamh'' became the ''magnus Judex'', which arguably developed into the office of ''Justiciar'', an office which survives to this day in that of Lord Justice General. Scottish common law began to take shape at the end of the period, assimilating Gaelic and Celtic law with practices from Anglo-Norman England and the Continent. ==Native Law== Pre-fourteenth century law amongst the native Scots is not always well attested. There does not survive a vast corpus of native law from Scotland particularly, certainly nothing like that which comes from early medieval Ireland. However, the latter gives some basis for reconstructing pre-fourteenth century Scottish law. King Robert Bruce cites common "customs", as well as language, as features which made the Scots and Irish one people. In the earliest extant Scottish legal manuscript, there is a document called ''Leges inter Brettos et Scottos''. The document is in French, and is almost certainly a French translation of an earlier Gaelic document. The sentence ... ... contains two Gaelic terms, and one term of Welsh origin which the French translator left alone. ''Cro'', represents the Old Irish word ''cró'', which means homicide, or compensation for homicide (''galnys'', from Old Welsh ''galanas'', means exactly the same thing in Cumbric). ''Enauch'' corresponds to Old Irish ''enech'', which meant "face" (C/F, ''lóg n-enech'' meant honour price). The text contains many other Gaelic terms. Later medieval legal documents, written both in Latin and Middle English, contain more Gaelic legal terms, examples including slains (Old Irish ''slán'' or ''sláinte''; exemption), cumherba (Old Irish ''comarba''; ecclesiastic heir), makhelve (Old Irish ''mac-shleabh''; money given to a foster-child), scoloc (Old Irish ''scolóc''; a low ranking ecclesiastical tenant), phili (Old Irish ''fili''; high ranking poet), colpindach (Old Irish ''colpthach''; a two-year-old heifer), kuneveth (Old Irish ''coinnmed''; hospitality payment), tocher (Old Irish ''tochrae''; dowry) and culrath (Old Irish ''cúlráth''; surety, pledge). Additionally, we know a great deal about early Gaelic law, often called Brehon Laws, which helps reconstruct native legal practices. In the twelfth century, and certainly in the thirteenth, strong continental legal influences began to have more effect, such as Canon law and various Anglo-Norman practices. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Legal institutions of Scotland in the High Middle Ages」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|