Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1708-1728
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COMMISSARIAT, n. Sc. law: a “commissary” court; a jurisdiction which represents a part of that of the bishops' courts (consistorial courts) of pre-Reformation times. It covers the registration of wills and inventories, and is exercised by the sheriff courts of the counties (Abd.16). Also applied to the district over which the jurisdiction of a “commissary” extends.Sc. 1708 J. Chamberlayne Present State Great Britain ii. Bk. ii. 503:
Here [in Scotland] are likewise Courts, called the Commissariat, answerable to those of the English Diocesan Chancellors.Sc. 1728 Chambers Cycl. (1862) s.v. commissary:
The inferior commissariats, which had usually been commensurate with the dioceses, had been abolished by a previous statute, each county being erected into a separate commissariat, of which the sheriff is commissary.
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"Commissariat n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 12 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/commissariat>
