The e x t e n t o f th e s u r v iv in g court re c o rd s o f the pre- Reformation church in S c o tla n d i s thus very sm a ll, e s p e c i a l l y in comparison to what i s found in England. However, one r e s u l t o f th e enormously wide range o f church c o u rt i n t e r e s t s i s t h a t m a t e r i a l r e l a t i n g to th e c o u r t s and t h e i r j u r i s d i c t i o n may be found s c a t t e r e d throughout th e whole body o f mediaeval S c o t t i s h r e c o r d s . To f in d such items i s sometimes a m a t t e r o f luck, although more o fte n one o f m ethodical s e a rc h in g ; to l i s t a l l t h e i r sources would be s c a r c e l y p o s s i b l e , as i t would involve almost every major c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f mediaeval re c o r d . I n s t e a d , some a r e a s of p a r t i c u l a r i n t e r e s t may be noted.
Although only a few church c o u rt books have su rv iv ed i n t a c t from th e hundreds t h a t must have e x i s t e d a t some time or an o th e r p r i o r to the Reformation, many scraps o f fragments and c o p y - e x t r a c ts o f such books a re to be found in a v a r i e t y of p l a c e s . A fragment of a r e g i s t e r o f th e o f f i c i a l of Lothian r e c o rd s two
c o n t r a c t s t h a t were made pending a sentence of d iv o rc e in 1521 and a p ro cess of excommunication of 1531 a g a i n s t two p a r t i e s who had f a i l e d t o pay th e c o s ts of an e a r l i e r a c t i o n . ^ A copy e x t r a c t r e c o r d s t h r e e s t a g e s in an a c t i o n f o r th e t r a n s f e r e n c e of a con t r a c t in August 1531, copied from t h e Lothian Act Book of the time
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and i d e n t i c a l in form and language t o s i m i l a r e n t r i e s in Acta I. Another fragm ent, a l s o of 1531, r e c o r d s th e r e g i s t r a t i o n of a
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c o n t r a c t and a sentence o f the o f f i c i a l of Lothian, and p ro v id e s f u r t h e r evidence o f th e c o n t i n u i t y o f th e s t y l e s and p r a c t i c e s to be found in Acta I or o t h e r s u rv iv in g co u rt books. In a d d i tio n t h e r e are many i n d i v i d u a l items such as c i t a t i o n s , d e p o s i t i o n s ,
m o n itio n s, sentences and a c t s o f a l l types s u rv iv in g from th e v a r i o u s e c c l e s i a s t i c a l c o u r ts of S c o tlan d which are of value not only in t h a t they i l l u s t r a t e th e a c t i v i t i e s o f c o u rts o t h e r than in the d io c ese s of St Andrews and Dunblane, but a l s o because they f i l l in many gaps in procedure which are e i t h e r not found a t a l l in Acta I o r a re r e f e r r e d to only in p a s s i n g . ^ Most of t h i s m a t e r i a l occurs 1. SRO, RH2/8/6, t r a n s c r i p t of an o r i g i n a l document in th e
p o s se ss io n o f Lord Bolton. 2. SRO, F r a s e r C h a r t e r s , GD86/96. 3. SRO, Morton P ap ers, GD150/1746.
4. N e it h e r c i t a t i o n s or l i b e l s , f o r example, were ever recorded in any d e t a i l in th e Act Books.
i n th e many c o l l e c t i o n s o f fam ily papers now kept a t R e g i s t e r House under th e g en era l c l a s s i f i c a t i o n *GD', but o t h e r u s e f u l sources a re th e c o l l e c t i o n s o f m isc ellan eo u s church documents (under CH7 and CH8), among th e s e p a r a t e c h a r t e r c o l l e c t i o n s (under RH6 and RH2) and in th e c o l l e c t i o n s o f burgh re c o rd s (under B ).
Apart from d i r e c t r e f e r e n c e s to the c o u r ts and c o u rt procedure t h e r e are many examples o f c o n t r a c t s and agreements which acc epted t h e j u r i s d i c t i o n of one or o t h e r of the church c o u r ts as a s a n c tio n f o r f u l f i l m e n t , ^ w hile burgh re c o rd s co n ta in d e t a i l s o f t h e endowment o f c h a p l a i n c i e s such as were o f t e n th e s u b j e c t of
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l i t i g a t i o n b e fo re th e o f f i c i a l s . Amongst o t h e r u n p r in t e d m a t e r i a l n o t a r i e s ' p r o to c o l books and s h e r i f f c o u rt re c o rd s p ro v id e com p a r a t i v e in fo rm a tio n f o r th e p r a c t i c e of th e c i v i l c o u r t s , as w i l l t h e e x te n s i v e re c o rd s o f th e c o u rt of s e s s i o n when the y are e v e n t u a l l y s u b je c t e d t o d e t a i l e d study.
3. OTHER PRIMARY SOURCES - PRINTED