96 The Raid at Dumfriks (j\ Lammas Even. 



to differ in no wise from tlK; Provost's and bailies'. He 

 usually controlled the markets, and on October ist, 1561, we 

 have it that " the consell rypplie adwisit hes chosin Peter rig- 

 Dein or sear of thair mercait, in all points to be \sit at thair 

 adwyiss and [he was] suorane there to. "^^ It is possible, 

 however, that between 1500 and 1560 a change had taken 

 place in the position of the Dean. He no longer seems to 

 hold courts.^ " Pryme " was a general term for the hours 

 between 6 and 9 a.m., and the court appears to ha\e sat at 

 the latter hour. The last extract given in the Transumpt 

 is of date i6th November, 1494. 



Such were the contents of the Burgh Court Books on 

 which the Burgh based its case. As it would have been 

 desirable to have produced earlier extracts than that of 1454 

 we may perhaps conclude that, even in 1509, the Burgh had 

 no earlier records than these in preservation. The earliest 

 we now possess are a few fragments of 1506. 



Before following- the case we may note what Erskine says 

 of the powers of the provosts and bailies of royal burghs. 

 *' In criminal matters they had anciently the same privileg-e 

 as regalities, of repledging from the justiciary or sheriff. 

 But their criminal jurisdiction hath been much 

 abridged by our latter usage. They are still competent to 

 petty riots ; but they never had jurisdiction in bloodwits unless 

 their grants carried an express right of Sheriffship, regality, 

 or barony (Leg. Burgh. C 19 and Skene's Notes), which 

 special rig-ht hath been granted to Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, 

 and some other royal boroughs But this juris- 

 diction is onlv cumulative with, not exclusive of, that of the 

 Sheriff. "49 



None of these powers appear in the Charters of Robert 

 III. (April 28, T395) or James II. (October 28, 1458) to the 



47 Burgli Court Books. 



48 By the Act of ParHament of 1593, c. 184, the Dean of Giiild 

 *'as vested with jurisdiction in all causes between merchant and 

 merchant and disputes about marches or Hnings were referred to 

 him, etc. (Erskine's Institutes, I-, 104-5.) 



49 Erskine's Institutes, I., iv., 16, 21. 



