Postby JMcMillan » 16 Mar 2015, 20:43
I started to post this yesterday and thought better of it, but it now seems germane.
So the question is the traditional definition of esquire in Scottish usage.
The following is from Lord Bankton's Institute of the Laws of Scotland (1751). Bankton is what is termed in Scots law an "institutional writer." That means, in effect, that what he says is absolutely authoritative unless contradicted by a statute or a judicial decision. What any dictionary or encyclopaedia or even Wikipedia might say does not trump an institutional writer.
From Book I, title II, "The State and Distinction of Persons:"
- "Barons are properly those who have their lands erected by the king into the feudal dignity of a barony."
- "Freeholders are those who, without the dignity of a baron, hold lands of the crown; a forty shilling land of old extent, or four hundred pound of valued rent, qualifies them to vote in the election of commissioners to the parliament for shires, or of being elected." [Note that this is different from the meaning of a freeholder in England; Scottish freeholders were only those who held land directly from the crown, i.e. as tenants in capite.
- "Esquires are mentioned, in the forecited old statutes, next to barons, but the penalty of lawborrows broken upon them is the same as upon knights, tho' these three were different titles of dignity; this title is more frequent with us since the union than formerly, and I conceive it is an addition that may be justly given to barons or freeholders, as in England it is a title of dignity betwixt that of knight batchelor and gentleman." [The mention of knights in the first sentence has to do with those who held their lands by knight-service, which had been abolished by statute well before Bankton was writing--"these many ages past," he says in another passage. Esquires "in the forecited old statutes" derived from this obsolete form of tenure. Also note, once again, that not every landowner may "justly" be called esquire in Bankton's scheme; only those who hold their lands directly from the crown, not from some other feudal superior.]
- "Persons holding lands of subjects [i.e., other than directly from the crown], if not distinguished by some other mark of honour or respect, are called feuars, and deemed of an inferior rank to freeholders; they have no title to elect, or be elected commissioners to parliament; sometimes barons, free-holders and feuars are all brought under one common designation of landed gentlemen...but that designation cannot agree to such common feuars as do not consort with gentlemen, and therefore have no claim to that character." [Note that Bankton defines "gentleman" in part by land tenure and in part by whether one is recognized as such by other gentlemen.]
- "[G]entleman, in ordinary discourse, extends only to those under noblemen [i.e., including barons and freeholders], and above the commonality; but as a distinct title, constituting a different rank of persons, it must be limited to those under barons and freeholders, and above common feuars, and such are classed with burgesses; therefore, in this sense, those who are descended of barons and freeholders, or of those of superior dignities, are gentlemen; they generally are honoured with the title of esquire, while they support the dignity of their birth, tho' of old they had no other designation that of gentleman; and of late those of the laicks that have such offices as become gentlemen, as that of a physician, &c. are commonly thought intitled to the rank and degree of esquire. Offices of distinction, civil, military and ecclesiastical, create those that enjoy them gentlemen: such likewise, as by their virtuous behavior and worthy deportment of gentlemen, are justly intitled to the character." [So "esquire" was used for anyone descended from a peer, baron, or freeholder, provided that he didn't have an occupation or behave himself in a way inconsistent with the style, whether he himself held land or not, as well as for those in the learned professions. No provision for esquires by virtue of holding a civil or military appointment, unlike the situation in England.]
- "Only gentlemen are intitled to bear a coat of arms, which they may of right demand from the lord Lyon, and get them matriculated in his register." [If you are a gentleman, in other words, Lyon must grant or matriculate a coat of arms upon request.]
So, bottom line: by the mid-1800s, the term "esquire" in Scotland could be applied to those who held lands directly from the crown (whether barons or freeholders), to descendants of peers, barons, or freeholders, and to those in the learned professions. Since the colloquial term "laird" might apply to any landowner, whether baron, freeholder, or feuar, it is not accurate to equate "esquire" with "laird."
Note that almost all of this has long since been outdated, and everything deriving from feudal tenure became obsolete when feudal tenure was abolished in Scotland a few years back.
Last edited by
JMcMillan on 17 Mar 2015, 21:20, edited 1 time in total.
Joseph McMillan
Alexandra, Virginia, USA
