Law and Literature in Scotland, c.1450-1707

For two decades scholars of English literature have studied legal literature and legal practice as a cultural phenomenon and in relation to imaginative literature’s complex engagements with the law. This chapter sets out what we know of these issues in late medieval and early modern Scotland, exploring the importance of law, not only in imaginative literature, but also in writing on religion and political theory. It focuses on the distinctive aspects of Scots law and its social context as well as the relationships with English law and government shown in literature.