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Α

DIGEST

OF

THE LAW OF SCOTLAND,

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE

OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.

BY

HUGH BARCLAY,

SHERIFF-SUBSTITUTE OF PERTHSHIRE.

"All the Establishments formed by our ancestors, and supported by their descendants, were invented,
and are mainly and principally maintained, in order that Justice may be duly administered between
man and man."-LORD BROUGHAM.

SECOND EDITION.

REVISED AND ENLARGED.

EDINBURGH:

T. & T. CLARK, LAW BOOKSELLERS, 38, GEORGE STREET.

MDCCCLV.

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THE RIGHT HONOURABLE.

DUNCAN MCNEILL,

LORD JUSTICE-GENERAL OF SCOTLAND;

WITH SINCERE RESPECT FOR HIS EMINENT TALENTS,

AND

WITH A GRATEFUL SENSE OF MUCH PERSONAL KINDNESS,

This Work

IS, WITH HIS KIND PERMISSION,

Respectfully Inscribed.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

THE valuable Treatises on the Office and Duties of a Justice of the Peace in Scotland, composed successively by Messrs Boyd, Hutchison, Tait, and Blair, having been in a great measure superseded by subsequent legislation, the want of a Work applicable to the existing laws has been for some time felt. It was suggested that the Author-who, for nearly a quarter of a century, has filled the office of SheriffSubstitute in one of the largest counties of Scotland, in which county the greater share of the jurisdiction belonging to the Justices has been exercised by the Sheriff-Substitutes should undertake the desired work. He did so at the time with considerable hesitation and reluctance; and he has since had reason to regret the resolution, inasmuch as his manifold official duties, which are paramount to everything else, left him little time for a work which required much research, and great accuracy, for its satisfactory completion.

The plan adopted is that of a Dictionary, in which the more important points of law are briefly noticed, and the authorities cited on which the statement of the law is made. On those branches which are more peculiarly connected with the office of Justice of the Peace, the fullest information has been attempted, and the analogies of English jurisprudence shortly pointed out. Other matters of a professional nature, likely to be of interest and of practical use to country gentlemen, have been also dwelt on at some length. In all cases of Statute-law placed under the administration of the Justices, it has been thought better to give the Acts of Parliament at full length in the text (excluding merely formal clauses), together with notes of authorities, rather than first to give a digest of the Statutes, and thereafter to repeat them at length in an Appendix.

The Author has gratefully to acknowledge the valuable assistance received from many friends. His acknowledgments are especially due to Messrs PATRICK FRASER, Advocate; JOHN GILMOUR, Barrister-at-Law, London; ANDREW CROSS, Sheriff-Substitute, Dunblane; ANDREW MURRAY, W.S.; JOHN KIPPEN, Writer, Perth, and Mr Kippen's Clerk, Mr WANDS; by the latter of whom the accuracy of the citations of decided cases throughout the work has been carefully tested. Where decisions are contained in more than one collection of reports, their date only has been given. COUNTY BUILDINGS, Perth,

25th December 1851.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE First Edition of this work having been disposed of, a Second has been called for. It has been carefully revised and extended, so as to embrace the changes in the law since the former publication. It is intended to carry down future alterations by Supplements.

PERTH, 16th March 1855.

THE JUSTICE'S DIGEST

ERRATA.

P. 12, last line, read "charges" for "changes."

P. 62, sixth line from foot, introduce “affirmed” after the date.

P. 89, second line from top, read "one" for "two."

P. 126,CHALKING DOORS," third line, for " Whitsunday" read "term of removal.”

P. 133, fourth line from top, for "L.8, 6s. 8d." read "L.12," and add " 16 and 17 Vict.

c. 80."

P. 192, fifth line from foot, read "four" for "six.”

P. 193, fifth line from foot, for "twelve" read "seventeen."

P. 257, sec. 21, second line, for "c. 10, s. 263," read “c. 107, s. 263."

P. 291, fifth line from foot, for "L.8, 6s. 8d." read “L.12."

But Worth the reight. The owner has time to get correct information, and then he must forthwith abandon. 2d March 1853, Turner (H. of L.) 25 Jur. 274.

ABATEMENT, PLEAS IN, are in England similar to dilatory or preliminary pleas in Scotland, which may defeat an action, but leaves undetermined the cause or ground of that action. 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, s. 19, allows amendment of records in England.

ABBEY OF HOLYROODHOUSE. See Sanctuary.

ABBOT. The head of an abbey-had a seat in Parliament before the Reformation. Ersk. B. i.; T. 5, s. 4.

ABBREVIATE OF ADJUDICATION. An abridgment of the decree of adjudication, and which must be recorded within sixty days, to preserve its priority with other similar decrees. 1 and 2 Geo. IV. c. 38, s. 18. Ersk. B. ii.; T. 12, s. 26.

ABDUCTION. In England by the Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 31, and in Ireland by 10 Geo. IV. c. 34, the abduction of an heiress, or other woman of property in possession or expectation, is felony, and punishable by imprisonment or transportation, and the marriage is declared invalid. The woman may be a witness against the man, though her husband. The same act renders it an offence the abduction of girls under sixteen years of age. In Scotland the crime was at one time capital, but now it is punished arbitrarily at common law. In one case (the M'Gregors, in 1752) the offender had sentence of fourteen years' transportation where an heiress of fifteen years of age was forcibly carried away and married.-An indictment was found

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