Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

ROYALTY, n. Also †royality. Sc. usage: an area of land or district held by or directly of the Crown, as a royal palace, the lands of a royal burgh, as opposed to a Regality or Barony in which the privileges and jurisdiction had been granted by the Crown to a subject. Hence burgh of royalty, a burgh under the direct superiority of the Crown, a royal burgh.Lnk. 1710 Minutes J.P.s (S.H.S.) 91:
The respective burghs of royality, regalitys and baronys within the said shyre of Lanark.Sc. 1752 Records Conv. Burghs (1915) 397:
Convenient access made from the south and north to the High Street, which was absolutely necessary in view of extending the royalty.Sc. 1773 Erskine Institute i. iv. § 7:
Royal palaces, though locally situated in boroughs of regality, were adjudged to be no part of the regality, but of the royalty, because they belonged not to the lord of the regality but to the king. . . . Lands subject to the Sheriff's jurisdiction are said to be of the royalty, because sheriff-courts are in the most proper sense the king's courts.Ayr. 1778 D. Loch Tour 39:
The number of manufacturers who are settling in the new town [Newtown-on-Ayr], out of the royalty.Sc. 1790 Faculty Decisions X. 194:
Situated within the royalty of the borough of Nairne.Wgt. 1810 G. Fraser Wigtown (1877) 81:
To take up all beggars, vagrants, strollers, and vagabonds, which appear within the royalty, and turn them furth of the liberties of the town.Per. 1830 Perthshire Advert. (4 Nov.):
Have not non-freemen been prosecuted and severely fined, for mending a pair of shoes, or for making a coal-backet, within the Royalty?Sc. 1860 J. Cairns Mem. J. Brown 179:
All beyond the boundaries of what is called the royalty are exempted.Sc. 1949 W. M. Mackenzie Sc. Burghs 67:
Its “royalty” was its range of jurisdiction, comprehending in early times not only the strictly urban district “but, in many instances, considerable portions of land which belonged to the inhabitants either in their private or corporate capacities”.