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: 1726-1752, 1816, 1890
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EXECUTION, n. Sc. law: “the carrying out by an officer of the law of a citation . . . also the writing in which his fulfilment of the duty is narrated” (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 33).Abd. 1726 Monymusk Papers (S.H.S. 1945) 202:
The said Moses Morgan produced and caused to be read ane execution subscrived with his hand.Sc. 1752 J. Louthian Process 93:
The Letters, with the Executions against the Prisoner.Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xlii.:
Hector, better accustomed to the artillery of the field than to that of the law . . . with like unconcern beheld the messenger sit down to write out an execution of deforcement.Sc. 1890 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 430:
An execution is an attestation, under the hand of the messenger or other officer, that he has given the citation, or executed the diligence, in terms of his warrant for so doing.
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"Execution n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/execution>
