Men of Law in Pre-Reformation Scotland

In 1532 James V founded a College of Justice, an event that marked an important step in the institutional development of the Court of Session. At the same time it was enacted that a small number of advocates should be licensed to appear before the College. This study casts light not only upon that key generation of advocates but also the legal world in which they operated. What kind of men were they? What status did they have? What of their education and career pattern? How did they carry on their profession and by what rules were they constrained? For who did they act and why? This book investigates questions such as these and describes the impact made by members of the nascent legal profession on Scottish culture, politics and social life in the first half of the 16th century.