Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

INCIDENT DILIGENCE, n.phr. Sc. Law: a warrant issued by a court of law to enforce the production of evidence in the hands of third persons. “The phrase is obsolete, although of course the thing itself is a commonplace of practice” (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 42). Cf. Diligence.Sc. 1769 Erskine Principles iv. i. § 31:
Where a party to a suit was to prove a point by writings which were in the hands of a third person, a separate action was . . . necessary for forcing the exhibition thereof . . . this is now done summarily, by an incident diligence granted by warrant of the court, against the havers or possessors of these writings for exhibiting them.Sc. 1838 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 404:
The production of the writing called for, and, failing that, the means of recovering it, or tracing it into the hands of others, are the only legitimate purposes of an incident diligence against havers.Sc. 1896 W. K. Morton Manual 466:
By obtaining in the principal action incident diligence (now termed a Commission and Diligence) for recovery of the writings required.