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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

OVERTURE, n., v. Also overturr, -to(u)r. Sc. forms and usages. [′ovərtjur, ‡-tər]

I. n. 1. In the Scottish Parliament and minor legislative bodies: a bill or proposal put forward with the intention of enacting it as a statute or regulation. Hist.Sc. 1700 Acts Parl. Scot. X. App. 47:
Resolved that all Motions and Overtures be first made in plain Parliament and that no Motion or Overture come in from any of the Committees but upon matters first remitted to them by the Parliament. Overtures for Acts to be made viz. An Act for Security of the Protestant Religion and Presbiterian Government of the Church.Slg. 1705 Trans. Slg. Nat. Hist. and Arch. Soc. (1889–90) 35:
Ane book for minuting the acts and overturrs of Councile, which is to be signed by the Preses each sederyunt of Councile.Bte. 1714 Rothesay T.C. Rec. (1935) II. 617:
Considering the overtoures made by the commissioner for Glasgow . . . wherby a new rule might be established for setling the tax roll of the Royal burrowes in tyme comeing.Sc. 1905 C. S. Terry Sc. Parliament 143:
The Orders of 1641 indicate the method which the House adopted in order to cope with its unaccustomed legislative labours. The Orders directed that every overture presented to the House should be communicated to be considered separately and, as it were, in Committee.Sc. 1924 R. S. Rait Parl. Scot. 433:
The word overture had been borrowed, in the period 1639–51, from the usage of the General Assembly, where it meant, and still means, merely a suggestion for legislation and not an actual draft. . . . Until 1703, the business of a committee was to translate an overture into the technical forms of a draft act, and, immediately after the disuse of committees, “Overtures in form of acts” became more frequent than before.

2. In the Presbyterian Churches: a proposal or call for legislation brought before a superior or the supreme church court by a lower body, gen. made by a Presbytery to the General Assembly.Sc. 1700 R. Wodrow Early Letters (S.H.S.) 126:
I received yours with your Overtures upon Wendsday last.Sc. 1739 Scots Mag. (May) 233:
This made the house agree to an overture, which they passed into an act.Sc. 1871 H. Moncrieff Pract. F.C. Scot. (1877) 65:
It is competent for any Presbytery to transmit what is called an Overture, either to the Provincial Synod or to the General Assembly, with the view of inducing the Superior Court to adopt any measure within its legislative or executive functions.Sc. 1903 N.E.D.:
In current use, an overture is a proposal to make a new general law for the Church or to repeal an old one; to declare the law; to enjoin the observance of former enactments; or generally to take any measure falling within the legislative or executive functions of the Assembly. Such a proposal must first be made in an inferior court (presbytery or synod), and, if there adopted, is transmitted by that court as its overture to the supreme court. If adopted by the supreme court as an overture, it is submitted to the various presbyteries for approval by them or a majority of them before it can be passed as an act.Sc. 1927 D. Carswell Brother Scots x.:
“Overture” . . . means a formal request by a presbytery that the General Assembly shall take cognisance of some matter and proceed to appropriate action.

II. v. tr. To introduce as a motion in a legislative body, specif. in a church court; to petition such a court by way of motion, put a proposal formally before. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1700 R. Wodrow Early Letters (S.H.S.) 129:
You overture that quhen sophismes are detected example of adversaryes should be detected.Gall. 1705 Session Bk. Minnigaff (1939) 166:
The Session now wanting a clerk and one to precent in the Church the minister overtours that one might be provided for these ends pro tempore.Sc. 1712 Records Conv. Burghs (1885) 57:
It was likewise overtur'd by the commissioner for the burgh of Forres that the good toun of Edinburgh should pay the four pounds of the tax roll.Sc. 1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad I. v. 273:
A motion is made in a presbytery “to overture” the General Assembly.Sc. 1895 Westminster Gazette (17 June) 2:
The Free Presbytery of Skye “overtured” the General Assembly to take into its serious consideration the views of man's origin propounded by Professor Drummond in his work on the “Ascent of Man.”Sc. 1949 Scotsman (2 Feb.):
It is humbly overtured that the Assembly take the whole matter of the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism into consideration.