B O R 



B O R 



to make a proper coiinterpoifc to either of the others. The 

 commons ufuully deeli;:ed to give their opinion or advice to 

 the crown, in certain matters of Hate, and fubmitted their 

 jndgnieut refpefting tliem to the king and his council, or to 

 them and the lords. While the reprofentatives of cities, towns, 

 andboroiighs, werechofen oidyontof pcrlons refidentin them, 

 they were generally people of low degree and condition, wliofe 

 education and way of life rendered them very unfit tojudge 

 of arduous qucllions concerning foreign aff.iirs, and treaties 

 with foreign ilates. Ncverthelefs, even in the earliell times, 

 fo far back as we have any rolls of the parliament, all the 

 commons appear to have given their advice with great free- 

 dom in matters concerning the internal goven-iment and order 

 of the kingdom. W'lat they declined to advife in, upon 

 fome occafions, were qucllions that related to the making of 

 peace or war. Mr. Hume, indeed, allerts, on the authority 

 of a citation from fir Robert Cotton's abridgment of the 

 records in the Tower, that the commons in thele times were 

 much below the rank of legidators, ar.d that they were con- 

 fidered by the king merely as petitioners, or dcllitute of any 

 proper legillative authority. Eut the whole palfage, cited 

 by lord Lyttleton, feems to confirm, inllead of denying 

 their legillative authority. In the king's anfwer to their 

 application, they are truly toM, that the power of judica- 

 ture does not appertain to them, but to the king and the 

 lords ; and this was the quelHon to which their prayer re- 

 lated : but in llatutes th.-y were to judge, as well as in 

 grants, fubfidies, &c. Their being petitioners was cer- 

 tainly no argument againft their being legidators ; fince the 

 cuurle of proceedings then was, that their petitions, if af- 

 fentcd to by the lords and the king, fliould be turned into lla- 

 tutes, as all the old records of parliament unquellionably fliew. 



Bnrgefles were firll admitted into the Scottifh parliaments 

 by Robert Bruce, A.D. 1326 ; and in the preamble to tl'.e 

 laws of Robert III. they are ranked among the conllitutnt 

 members of that aflfembly. Brady of Boroughs. Pttyt's 

 Right of the Commons. Brady's Anfwer to Petyt. Tyr- 

 rel's Appendix to his Hiftory of England. Hume's Hill, 

 of England, vol. i. andii. Appendix i. and ii. Lytttlton's 

 Hiilory of Henry II. vol. iii. Robertfon's Hill, of Scot- 

 land, vol. i. p. 75. 8vo. See Witten agemote, and Par- 

 liament. 



Borough, in Scols Laiv, is a body corporate, confilling 

 of the inhabitants of a certain tracl of ground, ercfted by 

 the iovereign, with jurifditlion annexed to it. Boroughs 

 are erefted, either to be holden of the fovereign himiclf, 

 which is the general cafe of royal boroughs, or of the fupe- 

 rior of the lands fo ertfled, as boroughs of regality and ba- 

 rony. The f.irm.er are empowered, by their charters, to 

 choofe annually certain ofiicc-bearers, or magiftrates ; but 

 in the latter, the nomination of mngiilrates is, by their 

 charters, lodged fometimes in the inhabitants, fometimes in 

 the fuperior. Bailies rtf boroughs have jurifdidlion in mat- 

 ters of debt, fe; vice, and queftions of poffefi:jn betwixt the 

 inhabitants. Tli^ir criminal jurifdicuon comprehends petty 

 riots, and recklefs fire-raifing. The- dean of guild is that 

 magiflrate of a royal borough, who is head of the merchant- 

 company ; to him belong the cognizance of mercantile 

 caufes within the borough, and the inlj.'eftion of buildings, 

 that they encro.lch neither on piivate property, nor on the 

 public llreets ; and he may direcl infufficient houfes to be 

 pulled down. His jurifdi£lion has no dependence on the 

 court of the borough, or bailie-court. 



Boroughs, Royal, in Scotlarid, are corporations made 

 for the advantage of trade, by charters granted by feveral of 

 their kings ; having the privilege of fending commiflioners to- 

 reprefent them, bclides other peculiar privileges. 



Thefe form a body of themfclves, and fend commitTioner;, 

 each to an annual convention at Edinburgh, to confult the 

 benefit of trade, and the geneial intereft ot the boroughs. 

 According to Chamber'ayne, th.ey have the fole power of 

 trade and merchandize, excliifivc of all others, a power of 

 holding courts, exercifing the jurifdiclion of Iheriffs, making 

 bye-laws, &c. 



The eom.pany of merchants in a royal borough make 

 what is called a gild ; the chief of which is a dean of gild, 

 who is next magillrate to the bailiff. Sec GiLr>. 



The royal boroughs aie not only fo many dillinft corpo- 

 rations, but do alio conllitute one entire body, governed by, 

 and accotmtable to one general court, anciently called the 

 " court of four boroughs," held yearly to treat and deter- 

 mine concerning matters relating to the common advantage 

 of all boroughs. The four boroughs which compofed this 

 court were Edinburgh, Stirling, Roxburgh, and Berwick ; 

 which two lall fallmg into the hands of the Engiifli, Lin- 

 lithgow and l.,anerk were put in their places ; with a faving 

 to the former, whenever they lliould return to their allegi- 

 ance. But this court not being fufficient to anfwer the ne- 

 ceffities of the royal boroughs, they were all empowered, 

 under James III. in 1487, to fend commifiioners to a yearly 

 convention of their own, which was then appointed to be 

 held at Inverkeithing, and is now held at Edinburgh, under 

 the denomination of the ccn-oaiUon of huroughsy veiled with 

 great power. 



BoRouGH-C^-ur/j-, in Laiv, are certain courts held in bo- 

 roughs, by prefcription, charter, or acl of parliament : fucli 

 are the (lieriff's court, and court of luiftings in London^ 

 See Court. 



BoROUGH-Tifl^'A/Zi, fo named in contradiflim^ion, as it 

 were, to the Norman cuftoms, and noticed by Glanvil (1. 7., 

 c. ,;j.), and by Littleton (Ji 165.), denotes a cullomai-y de- 

 fcent of lands or tenements in fome ancient boroughs and' 

 copyhold manors, whereby tluy come to the youngell, in- 

 ftead of the eldell fon ; or if the owner haih no iffue, to the. 

 youngeft, inllead ot the eldetl brother ; becaufe, according 

 to Littleton, tlie youngell is fiippofed, in law, the leall able 

 to lliift for himlelf. I Inft. iio. b. And 'v.\ fupport of this 

 reafon, other ufages in favour of the youngell are alleged, as 

 that in Kent, where the lands being equally divided among 

 all the fons, the youngell is to have the privilege of aftre or 

 hearth in the manfion-lioufe, in his (hare, as being fuppofed. 

 the tenderell, and more in need of warming. Others, not- 

 withllanding, fufpeft a different reafon for the rife of bo- 

 rough-Enghfli, viz. that the places, where this cullom now 

 obtains, were anciently liable to that cullom granted to the 

 lords of manors in Scotland by king Eugenius, who had 

 the privilege of enjoying the firll night of their tenants' 

 brides ; fo that the eldell Ion being prefumed to be the lord's, 

 they ufually fettled their lands on the youngeft fon, whom. 

 they thouglit their own ; which being praittifed a long time 

 grew at length into a cullom. ThecuHom, however, never 

 obtained in England, though it did in Scotland, under the 

 nan-.e of " mercheta," or " marchcta," till it was abolilked 

 by Malcolm 111. Perhaps, fays judge Blackllonc, theori- 

 gin of this praftice may be illullrated by that of the Tar- 

 tars, mentioned by Du-Haldc, among whom the fame tul- 

 tom of defcent to the youngeft. fon pievails. As the nation 

 is compofed of (hepherds andTlcrdfmen, the eldell fons mi- 

 grate from their father with an allotment of cattle, to feek a 

 new habitation. The youngell fon, continuing lateft with 

 his father, is naturally the heir of his lioufe ; the reft being 

 already provided for. This cuftoni of migrating obtained 

 in many other noithern nations ; and borough- Englifh may 

 be a re.".i.iant of that paftoral Itutc of oar Bnuth and Gcr- 



raaii- 



