Lords of Regality

Regality jurisdictions originated as a form of delegated authority from the Scottish monarch. Lords of regality historically had powers akin to an earl palatine in England,{{Cite book |last=Nisbet |first=Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/systemofheraldry02nisb/page/n171/mode/2up?q=regality |title=A system of heraldry : speculative and practical : with the true art of blazon, according to the most approved heralds in Europe : illustrated with suitable examples of armorial figures, and achievements of the most considerable surnames and families in Scotland, &c. : together with historical and genealogical memorials relative thereto |date=1804 |publisher=Edinburgh : Printed by and for Alex. Lawrie |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center}} and they held superior courts, known as regality courts, that exercised both civil and criminal legal powers over specified lands and baronies.

In terms of civil jurisdiction, regality courts possessed authority equivalent to that of the monarch's regional sheriff courts. They also held extensive criminal judicial powers, known as "pits and gallows", which were comparable to those of the High Court of Justiciary, Scotland's supreme criminal court, except in cases of treason. A regality court's jurisdiction superseded that of any lower baron courts encompassed within its boundaries, regardless of the baronies' ownership status.{{Cite web |title=An Introduction to Scottish Legal History |url=https://www.stairsociety.org/publications/an-introduction-to-scottish-legal-history/ |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=The Stair Society |language=en-GB}}

Regality courts were traditionally presided over by the lord of regality's bailie or their deputy. The courts also included suitors of court - individuals who held lands within the regality by obligation of suit of court, or attendance at the regality court.

Where appropriate for coastal properties, lords of regality could also hold rights of admiralty.{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=William Croft |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_hAAAAAYAAJ&q=admiralty |title=The Court Book of the Barony of Carnwath, 1523-1542 |date=1937 |publisher=Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable for the Scottish History Society |language=en}} Article 19 of the Act of Union 1707 protected these admiralty and vice-admiralty rights in Scotland, treating them as heritable rights of property, while subject to regulations and changes by the Parliament regarding their exercise. Therefore, lords of regality with coastal lands would also have been lords admiral of the realm, as the office of Lord Admiral survived the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 in the same way the title of hereditary sheriff,{{Cite web |title=WES Note |url=http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/files/WES%20Note.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181027/http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/files/WES%20Note.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03}} as recognised by the Lord Lyon, and lord of regality survived. Senior Counsel asserts the Act should be interpreted based on its purpose, which was to remove jurisdictions, not titles.

While initially established to aid in governance through delegated authority, some regality lords in the 14th century attempted to usurp royal power and rule their jurisdictions independently.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} By the 15th century, regalities had returned to functioning as a means of local administration on behalf of the monarchy.

The 1746 Act formally abolished all regality jurisdictions and limited lords of regality's rights to those of a burgh of barony. However, the titles remain in descriptive use today, particularly regarding grants of arms by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the heraldic authority in Scotland, who will accept ownership of a dignity of regality as sufficient to bring the holder within his jurisdiction for seeking an arms, as Lyon considers a regality to be a genus of barony.{{Cite web |title=Note on the Petition of George David Menking |url=https://www.courtofthelordlyon.scot/index_htm_files/Menking.pdf |website=Lyon Court}}

In demonstrating that regalities hold a higher noble quality and rights within the baronage:

{{Cquote

| quote = Baronies and Regalities are the next considerations. This leads to a distinction between Noble Fees and Ignoble Fees. Noble Fees were those that conferred nobility upon the individuals invested in them. These were baronies and regalities. Historically, all nobility in modern states derived from such fees. The title of baron encompassed the higher ranks of duke, marquis, and earl, as well as that of lord. All barons, as lords of parliament, had an equal right to sit and vote.

Some individuals of greater merit or influence with the sovereign were granted even higher privileges than regular barons through the elevation of their lands into regalities. Regality was the highest feudal dignity. The elevation of lands to a dukedom, marquisate, or earldom did not necessarily expand the jurisdiction and privileges beyond those of a regular barony, which is termed a Feudal Lordship, unless the lands were also erected into a regality.

Beyond the rights and privileges inherent to a barony, a regality also conveyed additional Regalia and valuable Franchises. The holders of regalities were styled as Lords of Regality. Regality, being the greater dignity, implied all the privileges encompassed by the lesser dignity of barony.

| author = Lord Bankton

| source = An Institute of the Laws of Scotland

}}

Below is an incomplete list of Lordships of regality, you can help by filling in details below (with reference links).

• Burgh of regality

• {{Cite book |last=Walker |first=David M. |title=The Oxford Companion to Law |date=1980}}

Category:Government of Scotland

Category:Legal history of Scotland

Category:Feudalism in Scotland

Category:Scots property law

Category:History of agriculture in Scotland

{{Scotland-hist-stub}}

{{Scotland-law-stub}}

{{Scotland-poli-stub}}