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Continuity, Influences and Integration in Scottish Legal History: Select Essays of David Sellar

Continuity, Influences and Integration in Scottish Legal History: Select Essays of David Sellar

Author: Hector L. MacQueen
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 9781474488778
Published In: August 2023
Format: Paperback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

¥7,090.45

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Description
Contents

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Brings together 15 principal essays by David Sellar (1941–2019), reflecting his pioneering contribution to Scottish legal history.

Groups essays into topics, covering Celtic law and institutions, the influence of Canon and English law across a wide range of legal subjects (including family law, succession, criminal law, evidence) and customary law
Includes a paper written during Sellar’s time as Lord Lyon King of Arms (2008–14) but left unpublished at his death, dealing with the history of the office of Lyon itself and arguing for its ancient Celtic origins
Groups essays into topics, covering Celtic law and institutions, the influence of Canon and English law across a wide range of legal subjects (including family law, succession, criminal law, evidence) and customary law
Includes a general introduction by Hector L. MacQueen assessing and contextualising Sellar’s contribution to the field

David Sellar was a pioneering historian of Scots law who rejected previous interpretations of the subject as a series of false starts and rejected experiments. He emphasised instead the continuity of legal development, with change a process of integration of external influences from very early times on. Sellar’s approach, articulated mainly through essays published in diverse places over four decades, significantly influenced our general understanding of legal history in Scotland as well as leading to appreciation elsewhere of its comparative significance.

By gathering Sellar's major essays in a single collection, this book demonstrates the scope and reach of Sellar’s overall contribution. It provides an opportunity to view Sellar’s work as a whole and to access his distinctive perspective on the overall trajectory of Scottish law.

Introduction: David Sellar, Legal Historian,

H.L. MacQueen

1. The Continuity of Scottish Legal History: An Overview

Part I: Celtic Law and Birlaw: Customary Law

1. Celtic Law and Scots Law: Survival and Integration

2. Marriage, Divorce and Concubinage in Gaelic Scotland

3. The Lyon and the Seannachie

4. Birlaw Courts and Birleymen

Part II: The Influence of English Law

1. English Law as a Source of Stair’s Institutions

2. The Resilience of the Scottish Common Law

3. Scots Law: Mixed from the Very Beginning? A Tale of Two Receptions