The Parliament of Scotland (; ), also known as the Estates of Scotland, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council of bishops and earls, with the first identifiable parliament being held in 1235 during the reign of Alexander II, when it already possessed a political and judicial role.
A unicameral institution, for most of its existence the Parliament consisted of the three estates of clergy, nobility, and the burghs. By the 1690s it comprised the nobility, the shires, the burghs, and various officers of state. Parliament gave consent for the raising of taxation and played an important role in the administration of justice, foreign policy, war, and the passing of a broad range of legislation. Parliamentary business was also carried out by "sister" institutions, such as General Councils or Conventions of Estates, which could both carry out much business dealt with by parliament, but lacked the powers and ultimate authority of a full parliament.Brown and Tanner, History of the Scottish Parliament, i, Introduction
The Parliament of Scotland was dissolved in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England. With the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 May 1707, the parliaments of Scotland and England were succeeded by the new Parliament of Great Britain. Under the Acts of Union 1800, the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland merged to become the Parliament of the United Kingdom.Mann, Alastair, "A Brief History of an Ancient Institution: The Scottish Parliament", Scottish Parliamentary Review, Vol. I, No. 1 (June, 2013) [Edinburgh: Blacket Avenue Press]
Long portrayed as a constitutionally defective body that acted merely as a rubber stamp for royal decisions, modern research has found that the Parliament of Scotland played an active role in Scottish affairs. In the 15th and early 16th centuries Parliament was a powerful counter-weight to the power of the Stewart kings.Brown and Tanner, History of the Scottish Parliament, i, Introduction Parliament provided counsel and aid to successive monarchs, while also successfully opposing unpopular royal policies.Brown and Tanner, History of the Scottish Parliament, i, Introduction
Three Estates
The members were collectively referred to as the Three Estates (), or "three communities of the realm" (tres communitates), until 1690 composed of: the first estate of prelates (archbishops, bishops, abbots, and other senior clerics) the second estate of the nobility (dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, lords of parliament and lay tenants-in-chief) the third estate of burgh commissioners (representatives chosen by the royal burghs)
The first estate comprised the archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, the bishops of Aberdeen, Argyll, Brechin, Caithness, Dunblane, Dunkeld, Galloway, Isles, Moray, Orkney and Ross and, at different periods, various abbots, priors, archdeacons, and deans. pp. 67–97 After the reformation in 1559, ecclesiastical representation continued in parliament, with the archbishop of St Andrews and the bishops of Dunblane and Dunkeld providing a Catholic clerical presence until April 1567, alongside the Protestant bishops of Galloway, Orkney and Moray.Brown and Tanner, Parliament, passim Thereafter, only Protestant archbishops and bishops were allowed to sit in parliament, alongside those representing abbeys and priories.Brown and Tanner, Parliament, passim The clerical estate was abolished between 1639 and 1662, and then again from 1689 when bishops themselves were removed from the Church of Scotland, as a result of the Glorious Revolution and the accession of William II.Kidd, Colin Subverting Scotland's Past: Scottish Whig Historians and the Creation of an Anglo-British Identity 1689–1830 Cambridge University Press (2003) p. 133 When no members of the First Estate remained, the Second Estate was then split, to retain the division into three.
From the 16th century, the second estate was reorganised by the selection of Shire Commissioners: this has been argued to have created a fourth estate. During the 17th century, after the Union of the Crowns, a fifth estate of officers of state (see Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland) has also been identified. These latter identifications remain highly controversial among parliamentary historians. Regardless, the term used for the assembled members continued to be "the Three Estates".The "fourth estate" argument is primarily favoured by Julian Goodare, and disputed by Keith Brown. A summary of the most recent research can be found in Brown and Mann, History of the Scottish Parliament, ii.
Burgh and shire commissioners were the closest equivalent of the office of Member of Parliament in the Parliament of England of the time, namely a commoner or member of the lower nobility. Because the Parliament of Scotland was unicameral, all members sat in the same chamber, in contrast to the separate English House of Lords and House of Commons.
Origins The Scottish Parliament evolved during the Middle Ages from the King's Council. It is perhaps first identifiable as a parliament in 1235, described as a "colloquium" and already with a political and judicial role. In 1296 we have the first mention of burgh representatives taking part in decision making.Bryant, Chris Parliament: The Biography Volume 1, chapter 10 Ane Auld Sang By the early 14th century, the attendance of knights and freeholders had become important, and Robert the Bruce began regularly calling burgh commissioners to his Parliament. Consisting of The Three Estates – of clerics, lay tenants-in-chief and burgh commissioners – sitting in a single chamber, the Scottish parliament acquired significant powers over particular issues. Most obviously it was needed for consent for taxation (although taxation was only raised irregularly in Scotland in the medieval period), but it also had a strong influence over justice, foreign policy, war, and all manner of other legislation, whether political, ecclesiastical, social or economic. Parliamentary business was also carried out by "sister" institutions, before c. 1500 by General Council and thereafter by the Convention of Estates. These could carry out much business also dealt with by Parliament – taxation, legislation and policy-making – but lacked the ultimate authority of a full parliament.Tanner, Parliament, passim The Scottish parliament met in a number of different locations throughout its history. In addition to Edinburgh, meetings were held in Perth, Stirling, St Andrews, Dundee, Linlithgow, Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and Berwick-upon-Tweed.Brown and Tanner, passim; Brown and Mann, passim
Personnel within Parliament Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor was the presiding officer of the Parliament of Scotland, as was the case in the English House of Lords.Tanner, Parliament, passim As the Lord Chancellor was also the principal Officer of State, the Keeper of the Great Seal, the presiding officer of the Privy Council, and a judge of the College of Justice, the office never developed into a parliamentary office similar in nature to that of the Speaker of the House of Commons in England.Tanner, Parliament, passim An act of 1428 which created a "common speaker" proved abortive, and the Lord Chancellor remained the presiding officer. Until 1603 the Lord Chancellor presided in the presence of the monarch, and their role was largely procedural, with debate conducted through him. In the absence of the monarch after the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Parliament was presided over by the Lord Chancellor in the presence of the Lord High Commissioner.Tanner, Parliament, passim In 1638 the Covenanters replaced the Lord Chancellor with a President of the Parliament chosen by the members. After the Restoration, the Lord Chancellor was made ex-officio president of the parliament, his functions including the formulation of questions and putting them to the vote.
Lords of the Articles From the early 1450s until 1690, a great deal of the legislative business of the Scottish Parliament was usually carried out by a parliamentary committee known as the "Lords of the Articles". This was a committee chosen by the three estates to draft legislation which was then presented to the full assembly to be confirmed. In the past, historians have been particularly critical of this body, claiming that it quickly came to be dominated by royal nominees, thus undermining the power of the full assembly.Typified by Recent research suggests that this was far from always being the case. Indeed, in March 1482, the committee was taken over by men shortly to be involved in a coup d'état against the King and his government. On other occasions the committee was so large that it could hardly have been easier to control than the full assembly. More generally, the committee was a pragmatic means to delegate the complicated drafting of acts to those members of parliament skilled in law and letters – not unlike a modern select committee of the UK Parliament – while the right to confirm the act remained with the full assembly of three estates.R. Tanner, "The Lords of the Articles before 1542", in Scottish Historical Review (2000) The Lords of the Articles were abolished in 1690 as part of the revolutionary settlement.Ferguson, William Scotland's relations with England: a survey to 1707 Saltire Society; New edition (1994) p173
The Crown At various points in its history, the Scottish Parliament was able to exert considerable influence over the Crown. This should not be viewed as a slow rise from parliamentary weakness in 1235 to strength in the 17th century, but rather a situation where in particular decades or sessions between the thirteenth and 17th century, parliament became particularly able to influence the Crown, while at other points that ability was more limited. As early as the reign of David II, parliament was able to prevent him pursuing his policy of a union of the crowns with England, while the 15th-century Stewart monarchs were consistently influenced by a prolonged period of parliamentary strength. Reverses to this situation have been argued to have occurred in the late 16th and early 17th centuries under James VI and Charles I, but in the 17th century, even after the Restoration, parliament was able to remove the clergy's right to attend in 1689 and abolish the Lords of the Articles in 1690, thereby limiting royal power. Parliament's strength was such that the Crown turned to corruption and political management to undermine its autonomy in the latter period. Nonetheless, the period from 1690 to 1707 was one in which political "parties" and alliances were formed within parliament in a maturing atmosphere of rigorous debate. The disputes over the English Act of Settlement 1701, the Scottish Act of Security 1704, and the English Alien Act 1705 showed that both sides were prepared to take considered yet considerable risks in their relationships.Brown, Mann and Tanner, History of the Scottish Parliament, i, ii, passim.
History Before 1400