ABSTRACT

The penalties for stealing a horse or an ox could be death or mutilation or a large fine, depending upon where the illegal hunting had been done. It is difficult to understand the logic and sometimes the cruelty of some of the punishments meted out in the Scotland of this period, unless one considers them alongside the general violence of the country and in the context of the age. There were simple attempts to protect the propagation of the game—deer, hares, and rabbits must not be ‘taken in time of snow’. Great importance was attached to restitution or compensation in cases of theft, and if there were aggravating circumstances the thief could be punished by flogging. In 1574, Robert Drummond, called Dr Handie who had been very eager in the smelling out and persecution of ‘papists’ was punished for adultery by being exposed in the church and banished from the City of Edinburgh.