The first of two essential student volumes exploring current perspectives in Scottish legal history The discipline of Scottish legal history involves the study of a complex mixture of history, power, place and people. This accessible and readable volume sets out to survey the current state of the subject and engages with wide-ranging debates and contexts within the wider European setting. The roots of a law commonly applicable amongst all subjects of the Scottish king can be traced to the 1100s. How and why did that law come into being? How was it used in dispute resolution during the medieval and early modern periods? Furthermore, how did its authority develop over the centuries and inform the modern laws of Scotland? This volume explores such questions and introduces readers to the history of the Scottish legal system prior to 1707, the year of parliamentary union with England. The volume is split into four chronological periods: The Origins of the Scottish Common Law to c. 1230 The Consolidation of the Common Law, c. 1230-c. 1450 The Transformation of the Scottish Common Law and the Session, c. 1450-c. 1580 Regal Union with England, c. 1580-1707 Volume Two examines how that union and a range of other factors shaped the law used in Scotland today. Key Features ● The first of a two-volume Scottish legal history written for both students and for wider academic reference ● Division of material into easily digestible sections and into broad historical periods ● Perspective from legal history (rather than political, social or economic history) ● Use of individual case studies to clarify technical aspects of legal history Andrew R. C. Simpson and Adelyn L. M. Wilson are both Lecturers in Law at the University of Aberdeen. Cover image: The Old Tolbooth. Engraving based on an eighteenth-century painting by Alexander Naysmith, image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN (cover): 978-0-7486-9740-3 ISBN (PPC): 978-0-7486-9739-7 Barcode