Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 1.djvu/111

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ANGUS. 89 "Thus the great Celtic Chiefs uf the Country, to whom the Norwegians applied the Norwegian title of Jarl, which was ti personal dignity though given in connection with 1 territory, now appear bearing the Saxon title of Comes or Earl, and the Celtic title of Monaster, probably official in its origin, was now merged in a personal dignity."^) "From the time when the Celtic lung Malcolm [1087-985 had m. the Saxon Princess Margaret, there had been an increasing Saxon influence in the government of the Celtic provinces," and of his three sous (by that Princess) who, from 1098 to 1153, were successively Kings [S.], " the reigns of Edgar and Alexander I must be viewed as essentially those of Saxon mouarchs, modelling their Kingdom in accordance with Saxon institutions, while the object of David was to introduce the feudal system of Norman England into Scotland, and adapt her institutions to feudal forms.' '( a ) "David's object on his accession to the throne (1124) was to feudalise the whole Kingdom, by importing feudal forms and holdings into it, and to place the leading dignitaries of the Kingdom in the position of croicn vassals, as well as to introduce a Norman Baronage. The relation of these old Celtic Earls, or Monnaers, towards the Croicn, had hitherto been purely official ; and that towards the districts with which their names were connected was not a pitrclj/ territorial one. It was more a relation towards the (Woes who peopled it, than towards the land. David's desire, certainly, would be to place them, whenever opportunity ottered, in the position of holding the land, they were officially connected with, .as an Earldom of the Lrown in chief, in the same manner as the Barons held their Baronies."( a ) "The process of feudalizing the Earldoms began under David 1, and was earned on by his successors, Malcolm the Maiden, and William [1153-1214] In the course of the twelfth century, ( b ) the seven Earls were gradually passing from the position of Comites of the Sovereign to that of Feudal Lords, holding the lauds, with which their position had been judicial, as an Earldom of the Crown ; the creation of six additional Earls, namely Menteith, GAmocii, Lennox, Ross, Cauiuck and Caithness, formed part of the feudalizing scheme ; and though the Earls continued down to 1214 to be spoken of as seven in number, the Earldoms enumerated were not always the same. . . . Till feudalized, the Earldoms of Scotland were distinctly non-territorial, and the Earls oftener designated by their names than their titles. The ancient Earldoms, when converted into feudal holding-;, were territorial exactly as far as the newer were, and no further. All the Scottish Earldoms had become feudalized before the end of the thirteenth century. ... In the case of some of them . . . even at an early period, the lands became so sub-divided, that little remained of them but the chief messuage."^) (•■>) " Celtic Scotland," by W. F. Skene, LL.n. See page 88, note (■'). ( b ) " After 1214," said Lord Mansfield in his speech in the Sutherland ease, " I think it clear that territorial peerages [S.] must have gone, because lands then became sale- able." This, however, is merely an obiter dictum (and not a very happy one) of his Lordship, and, in a legal point of view, these dicta, whether of Lord Mansfield, or of other Law Lords, " are acknowledged to have none of the force of a decision of the House of Lords sitting as a Court of Appeal ; and [in this case] being founded on very imperfect knowledge of the facts about which they would generalize, they are of still less ralue historically. . . . History tells us that Scottish Earldoms only bcyan to be territorial half a century before the time when Lord Mansfield supposed that they ceased to be so. Documentary evidence further tells that of the multitudes of extant and recorded charters of Earldom, original and by progress, from the earliest date to 1578 only five can be named (Carriek, 1318; Wigton, 1341 ; Glencairn, 148S; Moray, 1501 ; and Mar, 15C2), in which the dignity of Eaiu. is directly mentioned, and in four out of these five there is an obvious reason for its specification. In 1578 the practice began to vary, and from that date to 1600, half the charters of Earldom (they were ten in all) did, and half did not, specify the dignity, yet in each and every case the grantee was recognised as Earl, and the line of heirs specified in their charters, original or by progress, enjoyed the di'/nitif, as well as the lauds." See p. 226, &c, of a very exhaustive treatise on the " Jurisdiction in Scottish Peerages " in the " Journal of Jurisprudence, &c.," vol. xxvii, pp. 225-244 ; May 1883. (_) See p. 590 of a most able article, reviewing Hewlett's " Dignities in the Peerage ot Scotland," in " The Journal of Jurisprudence, or Scottish Law Magazine," (vol. xxvi,