Manuscripta juridica

Singularia ex quotidiana lectione .

This is a collection of notes on points of law, almost entirely extracted from Jus Commune. References to domestic Scots legal rules are rare (e.g. fol. 5r 'secundum praxin Scotiae'). A flyleaf precedes. It is darkened from a prolonged exposure to open air - thus suggesting that this part of the present MS originally constituted a separate volume. It used the same type of paper, however, and it shows the same character of handwriting, so that I attribute it again to Sir Thomas Hope, although no author is named. The handwriting is less hasty than before, but this may be explained by assuming that Sir Thomas Hope was now working at home, or at a library, so that he was no longer under time pressure in court.

Many points of law of which Sir Thomas Hope made note here may have come up in cases in court which interested him. Two dated references to litigations suggest this: 1614/8/10 (fol. 2v) and 1614/4/25 Mrll(?) v. Falconer, based on two quotations from Codex Justinianus and Digesta: a witness subscribing an instrument is not seen to consent to the contract therein. The latter case is also reported in the first part of the present MS, on fol. 42v: Andro M... (?) c Patrick Falconer, under the same date - yet the above report contains no quotations. The present notes tell us which points of law Sir Thomas Hope looked up on which day, and we can compare this to issues deliberated in court in the same time period. The notes are thus valuable. They are not just 'some jottings', as Lord Clyde deprecatively described them in the preface to his edition of Hope's Major practicks (pag. xii).

Sir Thomas Hope used the following books:

Corpus iuris canonici, Decretum Gratiani: rare (e.g. fol. 11r). Decretales Gregorii IX papae and Liber Sextus: frequent, e.g. fol. 50r many references to the text and to the glossa ordinaria.

Commentaries to the Corpus iuris canonici: Felinus Sandeus: often (e.g. fol. 1r-v); Innocentius IV papa (e.g. fol. 1v, 49r); Panormitanus (e.g. fol. 1v, 48r).

Corpus iuris civilis: very frequently (e.g. fol. 48v, 51r many quotations).

Commentaries to the Corpus iuris civilis: Baldus de Ubaldis, ad Codicem (e.g. fol. 3v, 4r, 45v, 48r, 49r); Bartolus de Saxoferrato, ad Digesta (e.g. fol. 6r, 48r); Gothofredus, 'Jus feudale' (?) (f. 2r); Gothofredus, ad D.41.1.31 (f. 3v).

Consilia: Alexander Tartagnus (e.g. fol. 2r).

Quotations from other Jus Commune books: Petrus Caballus, 'casus 159, et 101-102' (f. 48r); Everardus 'fol. 581' (f. 2r); Papon, Arresta, - quoting the book, the title in it, and the number of the 'Arrest', and at times even the date, and the folio of the edition (f. 2v, 12r, 13v, 18r, ... 49v-50r); Papon, Livre de noblesse, quotation referring to an 'Arrest' 1547/3/4, de dignitate advocatorum (f. 2v); Petrus Jacobus [de Aureliaco], also cited as Jacobus Petr[i], quoting the number of the title and the number of the page, from a printed edition which had at least 1132 pages (f. 46r-47r).

Most often quoted: Joan[nes] Pet[rus] de Ferra[riis, 'Practica Papiensis'], also cited as 'P[ractica] Petri', extremely frequent references, e.g. the text of fol. 1v, 2r-45v was for the most part extracted from this work. Sir Thomas usually quoted the title, the gloss number and the page. The edition which he used had at least 859 pages (see citation on fol. 3r). In many instances the references to this book were only added later, as indicated by larger handwriting, or by different colour of ink, or by mere additions in the margins. This fact causes me to think that Sir Thomas usually started his investigations with a direct search in the Corpus iuris, maybe assisted by pertinent indexes (e.g. index by Stephanus Daoyz, or by Johannes Bertacchinus), and that he then completed his search with the help of the 'Practica Papiensis'. At his time it was acceptable to base an argument directly on texts of the Corpus iuris, but the argument could gain additional weight if one could show that it was also supported by standard authorities

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Author(s):

• Thomas Hope of Craighall

No. of pages: Fol. 1r-51r (second series of numbering):

Rubric: Ex quotidiana lectione quaedam aggregata

Incipit:

• [{i}First item:{/i}] An literae vel donationes episcoporum obligent successorem si privata sint, id est si careant sigillo: vide Felin(um Sandeum) cap. Post cestonem(?), extra, de probat. n. 18 [X.2.19.7]. Videtur tenere literas non sigillatas facere fidem contra scribentem, sed non contra tertium. Observandum etiam diligenter est cap. 2 Scripta, de fide instrum. [X.2.22.2], ubi asseritur scripta authentica, si testes inscripti decesserint, non facere fidem nisi vel manu publica vel sigillo munita sunt. Aliud ergo est authenticum, aliud solemne vel publicum. Nam omne publicum est authenticum, sed non e contra. Vide Felin[um Sandeum] ad dictum cap. Scripta [X.2.22.2]. Vide cap. Inter dilectis, de fid. instrument. [X.2.22.6].

  [{i}Second item:{/i}] De solemnitatibus instrumentorum: 1 Quod legi debeant. 2 Quod notarius sit rogatus ab parte, a quorum consensu actus pendet, quia est extrinseca solemnitas et non presumitur. 3 Quod apponatur sigillum notarii, etc. Vide Felin[um] cap. Si scripturam, de fid. instrument. [X.2.22.1].

  [{i}Third item:{/i}] Si unus ex testibus sit notarius, non operatur eius subscriptio plus quam alterius simplicis testis, quia non subscribit ut notarius: Felinus ad cap. Scripta, de fid. instr. [X.2.22.2], num. 4 et 15.

  [{i}Fourth item:{/i}] Privata scriptura facit fidem contra scribentem, etiamsi subscripta non sit - modo si sit manu propria scripta et dicat eam esse de manu sua: Fel[inus] ad dictum cap. Scripta, de fide instrum. [X.2.22.2]. Lex Scripturas, C. qui potiores in pignore [C.8.17.11]. (Practica) Pap(iensis) fol. 321 et 322. Lex Super chirographariis, C. si certum petatur [C.4.2.17]. Lex Fideiussor § 1, ff de pignoribus [D.20.1.26.1]. Lex Gaius Seius, ff de pignoratitia [D.13.7.39].

  [{i}Last items:{/i}] Locatio sine mercede nulla est: lex 23 ff. communi dividundo [D.10.3.23], lex 54 ff. de donationibus inter virum [D.24.1.54], lex 2 et lex 25, ff. locati [D.19.2.2 et 25]. Sed merces semel constituta potest mox remitti: lex 5 [D.19.2.5] et lex 24 § fin. ff. locati [D.19.2.24.5], lex 10 ff. de liberatione legata [D.34.3.10].

  Acceptare videtur qui retinet, nisi continuo testationem interponat contrariae voluntatis. Gothof[redus] ad legem 16, ff. de S. C. Macedoniano [D.14.6.16]; et ad legem Cum tabernam, § 1, ff. de pignoribus [D.20.1.34.2]; Felinus cap. Scripta, extra, de fide instrum., fol. 156 [X.2.22.2]