The Sheriff of Orkney and Shetland, also known as the Sheriff of Orkney and Zetland, was historically the royal official responsible for enforcing law and order in Orkney and Shetland, Scotland. The office was combined with the role in Shetland of the "foud" and the "foudry".John H. Ballentyne & Brian Smith, Shetland Documents, 1195-1579 (Lerwick, 1999), p. 307. The foud was a bailiff who returned customs and rents due the crown, including butter and oil known as "fat goods".Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 5:2 (Edinburgh, 1957), pp. 186-7 no. 3014.T. Manson, 'Shetland in the Sixteenth-Century', Ian Cowan & Duncan Shaw, The Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1983), p. 205.'Foude', DOST/DSLHance D. Smith, Shetland life and trade, 1550–1914 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1984), p. 333: Jane Dawson, Scotland Re-formed, 1488–1587 (Edinburgh, 2007) p. 41: Ian D. Whyte, Agriculture and society in seventeenth-century Scotland (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1979), p. 44.
The sheriffdom of Orkney and Shetland was created in the 16th century upon the ceding of the islands to Scotland for non-payment of the dowry of Margaret's marriage to King James III of Scotland by King Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Prior to 1748 most sheriffdoms were held on a hereditary basis. From that date, following the Jacobite uprising of 1745, the hereditary sheriffs were replaced by salaried sheriff-deputes, qualified advocates who were members of the Scottish Bar
The position was merged in 1870 with that of the Sheriff of Caithness to create the new position of Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney & Shetland.
Old feudal duties to the Scottish crown The sheriffs of Orkney and Shetland were involved in collecting rents to the Scottish crown and teinds based on agricultural produce.Gilbert Goudie, 'Fouds, Lawightmen, and Ranselmen of Shetland', PSAS, 26 (March 1892) p. 191Jennifer Harland et al, "Produce from the Isles", Farmer's Trades and Markets (Sidestone, 2025), pp. 187–197 The rents were known as "land maill" and "wadmell", a measure of cloth.Hance D. Smith, Shetland life and trade, 1550–1914 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1984), pp. 19–20, 37, 342. Shetland rents were recorded in a document known as the "Skat of Yetland".John H. Ballantyne & Brian Smith, Shetland Documents, 1195–1579 (Lerwick, 1999), pp. 251–269. "Scat" was the general name for the tax or rent collected from the Shetland crown lands in money or farm produce. Woollen cloth given as rent was called "wadmal" (measured in "cuttells").Brian Smith, 'Rent, Tax, Teind, and Tolls in Shetland', Agriculture, Economy and Society in Early Modern Scotland (Boydell, 2024), p. 166.
Dairy produce, known as "fat goods", was measured in "lipsunds", and oil was measured by the can. The value of the produce was exchanged for Scottish money in coin, called "white silver", first using a traditional reckoning in a local "coinless currency" including the "yopindal".Peter Anderson & John Ballantyne, Personal Correspondence of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnoul (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2023), p. 23. In 1560s, the produce was sold in Kirkwall and in Leith and the proceeds were given to Alexander Durham to meet the expenses of the household of Mary, Queen of Scots.Michael Pearce, "Account of George Wishart of Drymme", Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, 17 (Edinburgh: SHS, 2025), pp. 4–5, 8–10, 17. The "fat goods" and "wadmell" of 1566 were sold to Robert Watson, a merchant in Edinburgh.John H. Ballantyne & Brian Smith, Shetland Documents, 1195–1579 (Lerwick, 1999), pp. 114–115 no. 156. The administrator John Skene recorded figures for rents in Mary's time, and noted that the wadmell cloth was "commounlie sauld to Ducheman".Athol Murray, "Sir John Skene and the exchequer, 1594-1612', Stair Society Miscellany, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1971), pp. 141–142.
Prior to their wedding in May 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, gave James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell the offices of the "Sheriffshipp of Orkney and fowdry of Shetland, and office of justiciarie within all the boundis als weill of Orknay as Zetland", and made him Duke of Orkney.Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stewart, 2 (London: Dolman, 1844), p. 27.
During efforts to capture the Earl of Bothwell later in 1567, the yopindal was rated at 22 Scots shillings.Gordon Donaldson, Accounts of the Collectors of Thirds of Benefices, 1561-1572 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 1949), p. 191. The measures and rates of exchange could cause controversy.Peter D. Anderson, Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, Lord of Shetland (John Donald, 1982), pp. 96–97. In 1569, Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, wrote about his Shetland rents:the charter which I have caused make of the lands of Yetland, for the land maillis of Yetland are counted in shillings, pennies, and pounds of butter and wadmell, and a shilling of butter in account of land maillis is 2 lipsund butter in payment, and a shilling of wadmell is 6 cuttall wadmell.Peter Anderson & John Ballantyne, Personal Correspondence of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnoul (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2023), pp. 37, 99–100, modernised here.
Islanders complained that Laurence Bruce of Cultmalindie had sought the biggest example of a "bismar" weight used by the German community to work transactions to his advantage.Peter D. Anderson, Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, Lord of Shetland (John Donald, 1982), p. 97. In September 1580, the Earl of Orkney made arrangements to sell the butter, oil, and victual from the rental to a partnership formed by Janet Fockart, with three merchants James Dalziel, John Hamilton, and John Dick. Some of the produce was sold in Orkney, but some was to be sold at the markets of Leith, Dysart, Kirkcaldy, and Kinghorn.Margaret H. B. Sanderson, Mary Stewart's People (Mercat Press; Edinburgh, 1987), pp. 97–98.
Sheriffs of Orkney and Shetland
Oliver Sinclair (sheriff).Peter Anderson & John Ballantyne, Personal Correspondence of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnoul (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2023), 4: Alison Cathcart, 'Kingship in the Reign of James V', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2024), 119. Olave Sinclair (foud) Robert Stewart (1564) Patrick Bellenden of Stenhouse, Sheriff of Orkney (1565).Mark Napier, Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1834), p. 114. Gilbert Balfour of Westray, Sheriff of Orkney (1566).Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 5:2 (Edinburgh, 1957), p. 16 no. 2529. William Murray of Tullibardine, made foud, (1566).Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 5:2 (Edinburgh, 1957), p. 186 no. 3014.John H. Ballantyne & Brian Smith, Shetland Documents, 1195–1579 (Lerwick, 1999), pp. 111–112 no. 153. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell (1567).Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stewart, 2 (London: Dolman, 1844), p. 27. Laurence Bruce (1571) John Dishington (1581-1610) James Stewart of Killeith, later Lord Ochiltree, (1610).Maurice Lee, Government by Pen: Scotland under James VI and I (University of Illinois, 1980), p. 135. John Buchanan (1620).Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1619–1622, 12 (Edinburgh, 1895), p. 715. Lt-Col. Patrick Blair 1663, 1669–1672 Sheriffs-Depute Edward Sinclair of Strom, Sheriff-Depute of Orkney, 1557.Peter Anderson & John Ballantyne, Personal Correspondence of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnoull (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2023), p. 11. David Scollay.Peter D. Anderson, Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, Lord of Shetland (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1982), p. 184. Robert Craigie, 1786–1791 (Sheriff of Dumfries, 1791–1811) Charles Hope, 1792–1801 William Rae, 1801–1809 (Sheriff of Edinburgh, 1809) William Erskine, 1809–?1822 (died 1822) James Allan Maconochie, 1822–?1845 (died 1845) Charles Neaves, 1845–1852 William Edmondstoune Aytoun, 1852–1865 Adam Gifford, 1865–1870
For sheriffs after 1870 see Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland
See also Historical development of Scottish sheriffdoms
References