A. D. 1466. 68 1 



their own body to ratify, or annull, as they might think expedient, the 

 ftatutes advifed in the feflion of burghs (or court of the four burghs) 

 for the good of merchants and the advantage of the kingdom. — They 

 repeated the unavailmg law againfl carrying money out of the country ; 

 and, thinking nothing elfe fo valuable, they ordered all merchants to 

 bring two ounces of pure filver to the mint for every fack of wool ex- 

 ported by them, and in proportion for fkins (apparently wool-fells) and 

 hides. — They ordered copper coins to be made, whereof four fliould 

 be equal to a penny, and alfo another kind of fmall money, to the 

 amount of only £300, with a mixture of filver in it. No perfon was 

 obliged to receive more than twelve pennies in the pound of thofe in- 

 ferior kinds of money ^The coinage of the mixed, or black, pennies 



was abolifhed in the following year *. [Ads Jew. Ill, cc. 2, 10, 11, 

 12, 22.] 



1467, January — ^The Scottifh parliament pafTed feveral a<fls, all intend- 

 ed for the advancement, but mofl of them probably operating for the 



obftrudlion, of commerce They ordained, that none but burgelTes, or 



their fadors living in their families, fhould go abroad as merchants. 

 But prelates and other clergymen, lords, and barons, might export their 

 own goods, and import what they had occafion for, by the agency of 

 their fervantsf. — Handicraft tradefmen were particularly debarred from 

 failing as merchants, or ufing merchandize, without obtaining fpecial 

 leave, and renouncing their former employment without diflimulation. 

 — The fmalleft quantity of goods, in property or truft, qualifying a per- 

 fon to fail as a merchant, was now fixed at half a laft. — They ordained, 

 that no fhip fhould be freighted without a charter party, wherein fhould 

 be exprefTed, among other conditions, that difputes between the mafler 

 and merchants fhould be fubmitted to the jurifdidlion of the town to 

 which they were bound, that goods fhould not be crufhed or damaged 

 by unreafonable flowing ; if the mafler carried any goods upon deck, 

 he fhould have no freight for them, and in cafe of their being thrown 

 overboard or lofl, the goods in the hold fhould not be Uable to pay 

 average for them ; and the mafler fhould receive no drink-money. 

 VefTels carrying lefs than five lafls fhould pay the freight of half a fack, 



* Ruddiman, on the autliority of Buclianan, in trade and were even owners of veffels, as appears 



inclines to believe, that copper money was coined by a receipt (dated S May 1475) for 100 marks 



by fome of the earlier kings of Scothnd. \_Praf. EngUfh money paid by King Edward's agent, 



adDlpl. Srotit, pp. 66, 67, 71.] But Buchanan's Lye, for a (hip loaded with merchandize, belong- 



afTertion, if unfupported by other vouchers, is no ing to Sir John Colquhoun^ the clxamberlain of 



fufficient authority (as has repeatedly been proved Scotland, which had been taken by Lord Gray, 



by Ruddiman himfelf in his valuable notes on that {^Rymer's ur.puhlijhcd records, Ediu. IV, Vol. ii, p. 



author, and as I have alfo had occafion to remark 589.] Unlefs the compenfation was ver)- inade- 



in anoihcr work) efpeciallv, as he confounds the quale indeed, tlic veiTel and cargo mu.fl have been 



copper money with the m'ixed or black money, very trifling, merely for the _lerv:ce of his own 



There were fcarcely any innovations, in which the houfehold. In this age the kmgs alio interfered 



Scots preceded the Engh(h. iu trade, as will appear afterwards. 



+ Some of the Scottifh bcTons were concerned 



Vol. I. 4 R 



