Continuity, Influences and Integration in Scottish Legal History: Select Essays of David Sellar

Brings together 15 principal essays by David Sellar (1941 2019), reflecting his pioneering contribution to Scottish legal history

Groups essays into topics, covering Celtic law and institutions, the influence of Canon and English law across a wide range of legal subjects (including family law, succession, criminal law, evidence) and customary law

Includes a paper written during Sellar’s time as Lord Lyon King of Arms (2008 14) but left unpublished at his death, dealing with the history of the office of Lyon itself and arguing for its ancient Celtic origins

Demonstrates the continuity of legal institutions in Scotland from the early middle ages on, assesses influences shaping change over time, and the processes of integration and then re-integration down to the present

Includes a general introduction by Hector L. MacQueen assessing and contextualising Sellar’s contribution to the field

David Sellar was a pioneering historian of Scots law who rejected previous interpretations of the subject as a series of false starts and rejected experiments. He emphasised instead the continuity of legal development, with change a process of integration of external influences from very early times on. Sellar’s approach, articulated mainly through essays published in diverse places over four decades, significantly influenced our general understanding of legal history in Scotland as well as leading to appreciation elsewhere of its comparative significance.

By gathering Sellar’s major essays in a single collection, this book demonstrates the scope and reach of Sellar’s overall contribution. It provides an opportunity to view Sellar’s work as a whole and to access his distinctive perspective on the overall trajectory of Scottish law.