h might as well never have been recorded. When the counsels of
a nation are thus divided, and especially when those who are charged with
the administration of the law pay no regard to it, in their own persons,
it would be a marvel if lawlessness in its multifarious forms did not
become the dominant characteristic of the great body of the people. That
this was the result produced is painfully evident. The great barons were
practically supreme within their own domains, for while the execution of
the laws might nominally pertain to the Sovereign, the soldiers belonged
to their Chiefs, and were absolutely at their command. Laws which cannot
be enforced at the point of the sword must in the nature of the case
remain practically inoperative. This unfortunate condition of affairs was
a fruitful source of misery and mischief, especially on the Borders, where
the prevalence of the clan-system conferred on the Chiefs the most
arbitrary and far-reaching powers. Had there been any possibility of
bringing the Border barons under effective governmental control "the
thefts, herschips, and slaughters," for which this district was so long
notorious, would have been in great part prevented. These men not only
incited to crime, but standing as they did between the ruler and the
ruled, they threw the aegis of their protection over the lawless and
disobedient.

If only that nation is to be reckoned happy which has few laws, but is
accustomed to obey them, then Scotland, and the Borders in particular,
must have been in a most unfortunate condition during a lengthened period
of its history. The laws passed were numerous; the obedience rendered most
difficult to discover. But while these enactments rarely succeeded in
producing the results aimed at, they are, notwithstanding, exceedingly
valuable to the historian because of the interesting light they cast on
the conditions and habits of the people. In the year 1567, in the first
Parliament of James VI., an important Act was passed, entitled "Anent
Theft and Receipt of Theft, Taking of Prisoners by Thieves, or Bands for
Ransoms, and Punishment of the same." It relates especially to the
Sheriffdoms of Selkirk, Roxburgh, Peebles, Dumfries, and Edinburgh, "and
other inhabitants of the remanent Shires of the Realm," bearing that it is
not unknown of the continual theft, reif, and oppression committed within
the bounds of the said Sheriffdoms, by thieves, traitors, and other
ungodly persons, having n