Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†INQUEST, n. Sc. Law: “a body, part jury part witness, which made inquiry into such matters as the service of heirs and cognition of the insane” (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 43). Cf. OED Quest n.²Sc. c.1710 Sheriffdom Lnk. & Rnf. (M.C.) 91:
Immediatly after, in the Inquest of seven men, about the lands of Monakineran.Sc. 1769 Erskine Principles iii. viii. § 28:
The judge . . . is required to try the matter by an inquest of fifteen sworn men. . . . The inquest, if they find the claim verified, must declare the claimant heir to the deceased, by a verdict or service, which the judge must attest.Sc. 1838 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 501:
To place the fatuous or furious person under permanent and unlimited curatory; and for that purpose an inquiry is made into his state of mind by a cognition and inquest.Sc. 1896 W. K. Morton Manual 43:
Such service was obtained by the issue of a Brieve of Cognition from Chancery to the Judge Ordinary of the bounds, directing him to hold an inquest before a jury as to the state of mind of the person sought to be cognosced insane.