A collection and abridgement of celebrated criminal trials in Scotland, from A.D. 1536, to 1784. With historical and critical remarks / By Hugo Arnot, esq.

Date:
1785
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A collection and abridgement of celebrated criminal trials in Scotland, from A.D. 1536, to 1784. With historical and critical remarks / By Hugo Arnot, esq. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1600 ing pei'fedly In fpelling and charader with the miiTives produ- eelL TIic flierilT-cIerk of Berwickfhire, the minifter at Aytoun, and two other witnefTcs, confirm the preceding evidence. A fentence fimilar to that pafied upon Gowry was pronounced upon Reftalrig ; a fentence, in one refped, as illegal as it was fe- vere ; for the treafon-laws only admitted of trial after death a- gainft the heirs of fuch perfons'as were known in their llftime to have committed treafon, as Dr Robertfon * excellently argues. The ftatute, however, was not violated in any other particular; for the fummons againft Reftalrig’s heirs was executed ‘within three years after his death. Such, however, was then the Rate of the country, that, in' a capital trial, no man could build his fecurity on the precepts of law, the principles ofjuftice, and the feelings of humanity. I difmifs this inveftigation with fubmitting the following pro- pofrtion : ‘ Whether, if the evidence I have prefented of the ‘ Rate of parties in Scotland, and of their outrageous attempts ; ‘ of what paflTed before fuch a multitude of witnefles at St John- ‘ Ron on the important day ; of Sprott’s foreknowledge of the ‘ confpiracy, which he teRified and fenled with his blood; and ‘ of the authenticity of Logan’s letters ; I fay, if thefe united tef- ‘ timonies colleded into one focus do not afcertain the reality of ‘ Cowry’s confpiracy, I lubmit, whether there be fuch a thing ‘ as hiRorical or legal evidence.’ Francis Robertfon’s Hift. of Scotland, vol. 2. p. 260.