they may be rebuilt, in case the proprietor should refuse or neglect to repair or to rebuild them; but cases of this last nature now very rarely occur. The provost and baillies, as justices of the peace within the town, hold quarter sessions from time to time, and take cognizance of frauds committed against the revenue. The baillies, as judges in the ordinary borough courts,* have the power of enforcing execution of their decree by distress of the moveable property belonging to the debtor, or by imprisonment of his person, by a writ, which is commonly known by the name of an act of warding. The town clerk and town clerk depute are clerks of this and of the other courts of the borough, of which the magistrates are judges. Alexander Cadenhead, advocate in Aberdeen, is procurator fiscal. OF THE DEAN OF GUILD COURT. The powers of jurisdiction of this court were originally very limited, and, in modern times, the office of dean of guild of Aberdeen is merely ministerial. By the act of parliament, 1593, he was empowered to exercise the authority of a judge in all causes and matters occurring between merchants, and between merchant and mariner, and, with the assistance of his council, to decide in such cases in a summary manner, according to the practice observed by the dean of guild at Edinburgh;† but he never possessed the power of judging, in any case, with regard to property within the town, or between conterminous proprietors, upon the limits of their respective L 1 VOL. II. tenements. * In former times, no defendant was obliged to answer to any suit in this court till he had been cited to two several diets of appearance; but this practice was abolished about thirty years ago. The court of the four boroughs, in which the chamberlain presided, and which anciently reviewed the sentences of borough courts, was composed of certain burgesses of the towns of Edinburgh, Stirling, Berwick, and Roxburgh, who were appointed to meet annually at Haddington, to decide, as a court of the last resort, upon appeals taken from the chamberlain-ayres, and to deliberate and determine upon all matters respecting the common welfare of any of the royal boroughs. When Berwick and Roxburgh were taken by the English, the boroughs of Linlithgow and Lanark were substituted in their place. Upon the office of chamberlain being suppressed, the power of controulling the magistrates' accompts was vested in the court of exchequer; that of reviewing their sentences was left to the ordinary courts of law.-[Arnot's History of Edinburgh, p. 463.] + Acts of Parliament, vol. iv. p. 30. tenements. For time immemorial, all matters of that kind have been solely judged of and determined by the magistrates and council, without whose authority the dean of guild and his court could institute no positive law or regulation.* Of late years, his powers of jurisdiction in mercantile matters have almost fallen into desuetude. By the charter from King Charles I. to the town, in 1638, the provost, baillies, and council are authorised, by themselves, or by their dean of guild, or by any other person whom they shall yearly nominate and appoint for that purpose, to visit, search, and try the weights, metes, and measures, within the bounds of the borough, and of the whole sheriffdom of Aberdeen, and within its common fairs and markets. They have also the power, under the same authority, "of marking and stamping all firlots, pecks, pound weights, stone weights, elvands, quart, pint, chopin, and mutchkin stoups, and all others of that kind, with an iron or brass stamp or seal, having the impression of the lion and crown, according to the sundry measures and standards prescribed by the acts of parliament;" also of uplifting all fees and duties exigible for regulating or proving such weights and measures. Under the authority of that grant, the magistrates have been in the practice of appointing the dean of guild custodier of the standard weights and measures of the town and county; and of delegating to him, and the proper officers under him, the power of marking and stamping all new weights and measures, after these have been proved by their respective standards. Although the dean of guild possesses no powers of judicature, ex officio, with regard to those matters, yet he has been in use, occasionally, of making progresses through the county, * The extent of the powers of the dean of guild were particularly defined by an act of the town council, in the year 1609: 1. The dean of guild was to have power to hold courts, and judge in matters between merchants, and between merchant and mariner, concerning merchants' accounts and charter parties; the town clerk, or his depute, being clerk of court. 2. He was to have four assessors, chosen yearly by the council, who should be brethren of guild and counsellors for the preceding period. 3. He was to have no power to set down any positive law, or statute, but by the advice of the magistrates and town council. [Council Register, vol. xliv. p. 173.] county, for the purpose of examining the weights and measures in common use, and of proving them by the legal standard; but it belongs solely to the judge ordinary to impose fines for contravention of any statute made in that behalf. OF LOCAL REGISTERS. Local registers, in which are recorded deeds and instruments connected with lands and tenements in Scotland, have undoubtedly been attended with important consequences to the public at large. They have tended to the security of heritable property, and long experience has shown the utility of this institution. The plan seems to have originated as early as the time of Queen Mary; for an act of parliament was passed in the year 1555, by which all seizins upon precepts not passing from the chancery were ordered to be presented to the sheriff clerk, within a year and a day after they had been taken, for the purpose of being inserted in his court books. Many seizins have accordingly been recorded in these books, under the authority of the act; but the oldest minute book of these registrations only commences in the year 1599, and appears to have been regularly conducted till the year 1609, when it was discontinued. In the year 1617, a register was instituted for the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine, under the authority of an act of parliament, which passed in the month of June of that year.† By the statute it is ordained, that all reversions, regresses, bonds, assignations, discharges, renunciations of wadsets, grants of redemption, and all instruments of sasine, shall be registered in the general register at Edinburgh, or in the particular register of the district, within sixty days subsequent to their respective dates; and extracts from these registers are declared to bear faith in all cases, except in the case of improbation. About the year 1633, the county of Banff, it would seem, had been separated from this district, and the register was confined solely to the other two counties. Since that period it L12 has Acts of Parliament, vol. iii. p. 497. + Ibid. vol. iv. p. 545. has been regularly conducted, and is brought down to the present time. This register is properly a branch of the department of the lord clerk register, under whose directions volumes are provided, from time to time, for the keeper of the local register. When a volume is filled up, it is immediately returned to the general repository at Edinburgh, along with a minute book, containing a short description of the several deeds and instruments which have been inserted in it. The keeper, however, retains a copy of the minute book, which is ready to be shown, without fee or reward, to those who have occasion to examine the register. This circumstance renders a search of it extremely easy to every one concerned, and is attended with much advantage to professional men, as well as to the public at large. Of late years, the many salutary regulations adopted by the parliamentary commissioners, on the suggestions of Thomas Thomson, Esq. the deputy clerk register, for conducting the public registers in general, and for the regular transmission of this and other registers of a similar kind, to the general repository at Edinburgh, have been attended with the best consequences. William Copland, advocate in Aberdeen, who holds his commission of the crown, is keeper of this register; and James Copland, his son, joint keeper. CHAPTER CHAPTER III. Of the Post Office-Custom House-Excise Office-Linen Stamp OfficeCess Office-Fire Insurance Offices and other local matters. OF THE POST OFFICE. We have already noticed the introduction of a post at Aberdeen about the year 1590, and the institution of a regular post office in the year 1667, by the magistrates, in consequence of an act of the privy council; but of this privilege they were soon deprived, under the same authority. After this time, the office continued under the sole direction of the postmaster general of Scotland; and, for many years, a post was appointed to go between Edinburgh and Aberdeen twice a week, and between the former place and Inverness once a week. But it was not till the year 1695 that the post office of Scotland received the sanction of parliament, when posts were established over the greatest part of the kingdom. In those times they were extremely dilatory on the road. The mail from Edinburgh to Aberdeen passed through Fife, and, after crossing two ferries, only reached Dundee the first night; hence to Montrose, where the person who had the charge of it rested the second night; and arrived at Aberdeen only on the third day after leaving Edinburgh. In this manner the mail was conveyed, thrice a week, for many years, between these places, the rate of postage of a single letter being three pence; but between most other parts of Scotland a post went only twice a week, between some only once a week, and the post boy generally travelled on foot. About the year 1750, a plan was adopted of conveying the mail from stage to stage, by different post boys, with fresh horses, to the principal places of Scotland, and by footrunners to the rest. In October, 1755, a regular post was established betwixt Aberdeen and Inverness thrice a week. The mail left the former place on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at ten o'clock forenoon, |