James I was King of Scots from 1406 until his assassination in 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of Rothesay, died under suspicious circumstances during detention by their uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany. James' other brother, Robert, died young. Fears surrounding James's safety grew through the winter of 1405/06 and plans were made to send him to France. In February 1406, James was forced to take refuge in the castle of the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth after his escort was attacked by supporters of Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas. He remained at the castle until mid-March, when he boarded a vessel bound for France. On 22 March, English pirates captured the ship and delivered the prince to Henry IV of England. The ailing Robert III died on 4 April and the 11-year-old James, now the uncrowned King of Scots, would not regain his freedom for another eighteen years.
The Statute of Westminster of 1275, also known as the Statute of Westminster I, codified the existing law in England, into 51 chapters. Chapter 5 is still in force in the United Kingdom and the Australian state of Victoria whilst part of Chapter 1 remains in force in New Zealand. It was repealed in Ireland in 1983.
The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Scotland or the British Government had the power to control clerical positions and benefits. The Disruption came at the end of a bitter conflict within the Church of Scotland, and had major effects in the church and upon Scottish civic life.
The Statute of Marlborough is a set of laws passed by the Parliament of England during the reign of Henry III in 1267. The laws comprised 29 chapters, of which four are still in force. Those four chapters constitute the oldest piece of statute law in the United Kingdom still in force as of 2024.
The Police (Scotland) Act 1966 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Theft Act 1607 is an Act of the Parliament of Scotland.
Events from the 1420s in England.
Events from the year 1703 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain. It is still partly in force in Great Britain.
The Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1964 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Regiam Majestatem is the earliest surviving work giving a comprehensive digest of the Law of Scotland. The name of the document is derived from its first two words. It consists of four books, treating (1) civil actions and jurisdictions, (2) judgments and executions, (3) contracts, and (4) crimes.
The Act 53 Geo. 3. c. 160, sometimes called the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813, the Trinitarian Act 1812, the Unitarian Relief Act, the Trinity Act, the Unitarian Toleration Bill, or Mr William Smith's Bill, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended its blasphemy laws and granted toleration for Unitarian worship.
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Irish law, it is one of the three legal systems of the United Kingdom. Scots law recognises four sources of law: legislation, legal precedent, specific academic writings, and custom. Legislation affecting Scotland and Scots law is passed by the Scottish Parliament on all areas of devolved responsibility, and the United Kingdom Parliament on reserved matters. Some legislation passed by the pre-1707 Parliament of Scotland is still also valid.
The Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which applied only to Scotland. It stated that anyone who was prosecuted on or after 1 April 1748 for treason or misprision of treason could be tried anywhere in Scotland if the crime had been committed in any of the shires of Dunbartain, Stirling, Perth, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Cromarty, Argyll, Forfarshire, Banff, Sutherland, Caithness, Elgine, Ross, and Orkney. Normally a crime had to be tried in the shire where it had been committed. The Act also said that in such a trial, the jurors could come from adjoining counties, instead of the county where the trial was held.
Alexander Colquhoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop was a Scottish church advocate and Liberal Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenock from 1852 to 1868. He was a very influential figure in the Disruption of 1843 which led to the formation of the Free Church of Scotland. For that denomination he drafted the Church-State papers: the Claim of Right and the Protest. He became known by the nickname the Member for Scotland.
A revised edition of the statutes is an edition of the Revised Statutes in the United Kingdom. These editions are published by authority.
The Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1973 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which implemented recommendations contained in the fourth report on statute law revision, by the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission.
