Manuscripta juridica

Ius proprium Scotiae - College of Justice: oration of an applicant for appointment as a Senator .

The handwriting shows characteristics which were fashionable around 1600 - but it may be older. A long speech in very good Latin, requesting the Lords of Council and Session to admit the speaker as a Senator in the place of former Senator Archibald Douglas (appointed 1568/6/2) who had fled. The speaker mentions a competing candidate and alleges that this other person has never studied law. The king has ordered that the Lords shall decide which of the two is better qualified. The competition was ordered to take place 1579/10/20 (fol. 112v), and the speaker mentions at the beginning that this is the first competition ever held for such post.

The speaker takes three pages to set out the qualifications required and to make it clear how badly the other competitor meets them. Only thereafter does he praise his own qualities, showing off his knowledge of the Corpus Juris Civilis, paraphrasing texts from it and even mentioning words in Greek. Remarks in the margins suggest additional points to be covered in the speech. This makes it probable that the present MS is not a copy but the original

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No. of pages: Fol. 112r-115r

Rubric: Oratio

Incipit:

• Novo more, judices, primus ego [and then:] omnium qui vel nostra vel patrum memoria senatorii ordinis candidati extiterunt

Explicit:

• dignitatem, fidemque et religionem vestram peragatis. Dixi