Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

COMMISSARY, n. Sc. law: a judge in a commissary court (see Commissariat), in present practice, the sheriff in each county acting as commissary. “In 1876 even the name was merged in that of the sheriff . . . but the old seal may still be used” (Sc. [1754] Erskine Princ. Law Scot. (1903) 56).Ib. 55:
These commissaries retained till 1830 an exclusive power of judging in declarators of marriage, and of the nullity of marriage; in actions of divorce and of non-adherence; of adultery, bastardy, and confirmation of testaments.Sc. 1814 Scott Waverley (1817) lxvi.:
Mr Duncan Macwheeble, no longer Commissary or Baillie . . . had escaped proscription by an early seccession from the insurgent party.Sc. 1931 Scotsman (21 Nov.) 8/6:
The Commissary refused to issue confirmation, on the grounds that the settlement was invalid, having been executed by a minister acting as notary public outwith his own parish.