I am curious to know what this word means. .....

[scml]

Going through the index on NAS for court cases, I came across this term a few times:
11 Jan 1805, Verdict: Not proven, Verdict Comments: Assoilzied, Sentence: Assoilzied simpliciter and dismissed.

Can anyone tell me what "Assoilized" means.

Also, "outlawed and put to the horn".

Searches say the word "horn" means to be outlawed, but from the sentence above it seems it may mean something else?

[AndrewP]

Hi Sandy,

Can anyone tell me what "Assoilized" means.

From Chambers Dictionary:
Assoilize: to absolve (Scot.); to free (defender or accused) of a claim or charge (Scots law)

Also, "outlawed and put to the horn".

Also from Chambers Dictionary:
Put to the horn: (obs. Scots law) to outlaw by three blasts of the horn at the Cross of Edinburgh

All the best,

AndrewP

[scml]

Thanks for that Andrew I appreciate your help. You certainly were quick at answering my query. Now the term 'outlawed and put to the horn' makes sense. I guess that would have been the old way of "putting it on the news"

[AnneM]

Hi

As Andrew says assoilzied means acquitted, found not guilty. The z is silent so it is pronounced assoilied. David W is very good on the subject of thorns and yoghs. It is like the z in Menzies which is properly pronounced Mingis or McFadzean which is McFadgen. I guess my name should rightly be pronounced MacKingie ot MacKenny.

It is worth remembering that there remain 2 not guilty verdicts in Scots Criminal Law, not guilty and not proven. There is a school of thought that originally the only 2 possible verdicts were guilty and not proven which stresses that the reponsibility is on the Crown to prove the case to the satisfaction of the court and that if it has not done so the accused is entitled to be acquitted. The not guilty verdict may be an English import which has now displaced the not proven to make it into some kind of lesser verdict or as some wit said it means "Not guilty but don't do it again"

Sure you did not need this rant.

Anne

[AnneM]

Assoilzed could also be used in some civil cases to mean to find for the defender.

Anne

[DavidWW]

I thought that the original pre-1707 possible verdicts in a Scots court were "proven" or "not proven", the logic being that guilt is very difficult to prove or disprove, and that the purpose of the court was to pronounce on whether the charge could be proven or not proven.

Then, later, some parliamentary clerk remembered to do away with the "proven" verdict when "guilty" and "not guilty" were introduced, but forgot to do away with "not proven".

David

PS Later, - wayullll - I maybe got the dates wrong, - see Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_proven .

See also http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1341552004

dww

[AnneM]

Could well be David. A lot of that stuff is lost in the mists of time. We are for example very clear about the difference between civil and criminal matters but back before the mid C18 it was not unusual to find that in what we would now call a civil case the decision of the court was that the defender did 'wrang' or did 'na wrang'.

You might be right about the proven and not proven but I'm not sure then retention of the not proven was an accident. I'll check the work copy of Gordon's criminal law tomorrow at lunchtime, if I get one!!!

Anne

It's worth remembering in all of this that until comparatively modern times i.e. post the '45 central authority in Scotland was not that strong and that informal justice also flourished under the clan system. My understanding is that England became much more centralised after 1066 and all that.

[DavidWW]

Anne

See the Wikipedia article that Google found

David

[AnneM]

Ta David but I'll stick with books! T'internet is a wonderful thing but I like my sources to be on paper and preferably edited by someone I know to be sound!! Particularly when the internet version refers to Scottish Law. What the blue blazes is that? I am a Scots lawyer and make no apology for it. And also what in our words is a defense lawyer......... a defence lawyer maybe. Next they'll be talking about attorneys.

Anne