The Guildry of Edinburgh: is it an incorporation? with introductory remarks concerning 'gilds', etc

Appendix

BY JAMES COLSTON < (Ptnnburg.) PRINTED BY COLSTON & COMPANY And Sold by RICHARD CAMERON, St David Street W. BROWN, Princes Street; E. & S. LIVINGSTONE, Teviot Place MDCCCLXXXVII CONTENTS. PACE PREFACE, vn INTRODUCTORY REMARKS concerning "GILDS," 3 THE GUILDRY OF EDINBURGH : IS IT AN INCORPORATION * 25 APPENDIX— I. — Statuta Gildæ, with Translation in English, 91 II. — Constitution and Bye-Laws of the Guild Court of Edinburgh, ratified by Act 184, Scot. Parl. 1593, ...... 115 III. — Extracts from Dean of Guild's Accounts, . IV. — Order by Dean of Guild — Weights and Measures, 119 183 V. — Extracts from Burgh Records of Aberdeen, as furnished to the Committee of the House of Commons, in regard to the Constitution of the Royal Burghs in 1793, with Translation in English, 184 VI. Observations on the Government of Boyal Burghs in Scotland, by Lord Kames, ........ 198 VII.

Names of Gentlemen who have filled the Office of Dean of Guild of the City of Edinburgh from 1583 to the Present Time, 202 VIIL List of Members of the Dean of Guild Court of Edinburgh from 1833 to the Present Time, ....... IMPRESSION three hundred coties. PREFAC E. JKS-jttSfSgTIEX I took upon me the self-imposed task of investigating I I f|nJ|J the history and ascertaining the present position of the ■SSHH Guildry of Edinburgh, I had not the least idea that my notes would eventually develop into anything like the proportions they have assumed. The farce annually acted by the Town Clerk of recording in the Minutes of the Town Council, that " there was no Incorporation of the Guildry," seemed to be so unnecessary and so unlikely to lead to any good result, that I thought it might be interesting to the Members of the Council, and the public generally, to have placed before them information on the subject, in a handy form.

Hence the present volume. Starting from the Town Clerk's action, I had prepared a paper on the subject, of a very limited kind, and having shown it to a friend, he suggested that I should take a broader view of the question ; that I should go back into the history of Scottish Municipal Institutions, and see how these were gradually developed through means of Guildries, Town Councils, etc., and how the present system of Civic management came into existence. This I have attempted to do in these pages.