Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

Scottish Legal History Research Guide

This research guide in Scottish legal history covers the feudal period through 1901.

Secondary Sources

General Texts

Listed below is a selection of good secondary sources for Scottish legal history. To find others, use FirstSearch and subject headings such as Scottish legal history, Scots law, Scottish law.

  • Cowan, Edward J. "For Freedom Alone": The Declaration of Arbroath1320. East Lothian: Tuckwell Press, 2003. DA 783.41.C68 2003
  • Farmer, Lindsay. Criminal Law, Tradition and Legal Order: Crime and the Genius of Scots Law, 1747 to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. KDC 910.F37 1997 (INT'L)
  • Ferguson, Paul Craig. Medieval Papal Representatives in Scotland: Legates, Nuncios and Judges-Delegate, 1125-1286. Edinburgh: Stair Society, 1997. BX1263.F47 1997
  • Ford, J.D. Law and Opinion in Scotland During the Seventeenth Century. Oxford: Hart, 2007.KDC296.F67 2007 (INT'L)
  • New Perspectives on Scottish Legal HistoryKiralfy, Albert & MacQueen, Hector L. (eds.). New Perspectives in Scottish Legal History. London: Frank Cass, 1984. KDC 334.N48 1984 (INT'L)
  • MacInnes, Allan I. Union and Empire: the Making of the United Kingdom in 1707.DA807 .M137 2007
  • MacQueen, Hector L. Common Law and Feudal Society in Medieval Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1993. KDC397.M32 1993 (INT'L)
  • Neville, Cynthia J. Violence, Custom and Law: The Anglo-Scottish Border Lands in the Later Middle Ages. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998. KD 606.N4 1998(INT'L)
  • Pryde, George S. The Treaty of Union of Scotland and England, 1707. Greenwood Press, 1979.KZ642.A7.S26 1979r
  • Robertson, John, ed. A Union for Empire: Political Thought and the British Union of 1707JA84.G7 U55 1995
  • Stair Society. An Introduction to Scottish Legal HistoryKDC 175.S72 (INT'L)
  • Styles, Scott Crichton. The Scottish Legal Tradition. Edinburgh: The Stair Society, 1991. KDC 296.Z9 M47 1991 (INT'L)
  • Walker, David M. A Legal History of Scotland. Edinburgh: W. Green, 1998-2004. KDC296.W34 (Course Reserve, Williams Library). This multi-volume work is considered one of the most authoritative resources on Scottish legal history.
  • Walker, David M. The Scottish Legal System: An Introduction to the Study of Scotts Law. Edinburgh: W. Green, 2001. KDC331.W34 2001 (INT'L)

Journals

  • British Politics.
  • Journal of Scottish Historical Studies.
  • Parliamentary Affairs.
  • Scots Law Times. Available on Westlaw; with coverage from 1893.
  • Scottish Affairs. Published by the Institute of Governance at the University of Edinburgh; with coverage since 1992.
  • Scottish Historical Review.
  • Scottish Journal of Political Economy.
  • Scottish Law Journal and Sheriff Court Record, 1858-61.
  • The British Journal of Politics and International Relations.
  • The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland.