In the early years of the thirteenth century the rulers of Scotland and their advisors developed a sophisticated theory of kingship that gave new expression to the closely related notions of princely justice and royal mercy. Historians have long been aware of the influence of English common-law and Roman civilian traditions on the development and maturation of early Scottish common law, but few scholars have ventured to examine closely the ways in which the reforming church of the thirteenth century offered the kings of Scots inspiration and models to emulate in the construction of new ideas about kingship, justice and mercy.

This paper explores implications of the crown’s appropriation of the ideas of the reforming church of the thirteenth century in the construction of a Scottish common law (particularly as it related to felony) and the exercise of royal pardon.

Cynthia J. Neville holds the George Munro Chair in History and Political Economy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she teaches medieval history. She has published extensively on various aspects of the legal, social and political history of northern England and Scotland in the period 1100-1500. Her recent books include Native Lordship in Medieval Scotland: The Earldoms of Strathearn and Lennox, c.1140-1365 (Dublin, 2005), Land, Law and People in Medieval Scotland, (Edinburgh 2010) and, with Grant G. Simpson, an edition of the written acts of King Alexander III for the Regesta Regum Scottorum series (Edinburgh, 2013). Professor Neville’s current research explores the subject of royal pardon in Scotland in the later medieval period.

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