medieval-atlas/administration/219

Transcription

The Session In the first three-quarters of the fifteenth century, the main central civil court was parliament, which usually nominated committees of auditors to hear causes whilst and whenever the parliament was sitting. On several occasions between 1457 and 1472 the estates chose further groups of lords to hold judicial sittings -'the session' in regional centres, between parliaments. Thereafter, when parliament was not sitting, civil causes were dealt with centrally only by the king's council. By 1496 the council had superseded the parliamentary committees as the main central civil tribunal, the direct antecedent of the college of justice and the court of session. From some time in the 1470s until 1488 the council held judicial sittings only in Edinburgh, but in lames lV's reign, and especially in the 1490s, the council heard causes in the provinces, following the ayres, or sitting wherever the king's court happened to be at the time. After 1500 that practice became less common, and the council's regular Edinburgh sessions were organised to deal with cases from specific parts of the country in turn. In 1503 an extensive table of causes was drawn up based on a five part division of the kingdom. Later groupings of sheriffdoms had greater geographical coherence, but the composition, and the time allocated to each grouping, varied fromonediet to another. Subsequently, the districts became larger and fewer, and the time allocated to each correspondingly longer. After 1590 the system of districts fell into desuetude: the whole country was then treated as a unity and the court dealt with cases according to priority of calling. On the other hand, the central criminal court has always gone on circuit, and to this day still does. 'P.-b e,...% ?....; . ~~ 8 April 1457 for I month ", .. 1 • Places where the session was held " " The session 1457/8 TMC r1 A 21 N0'iD