Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1754
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†DENUNCIATION, n. Sc. law: “the act by which a person who has disobeyed a charge is proclaimed a rebel” (Sc. 1890 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 313).Sc. 1754 J. Erskine Princ. Law Scot. ii. v. 25:
The messenger must execute these letters . . . against the debtor, either personally, or at his dwelling-house. . . . If obedience is not given . . . within the days mentioned in the horning, the messenger, after making three oyesses at the market-cross of the head burgh of the debtor's domicile, and reading the letters, blows three blasts with a horn, by which the debtor is understood to be proclaimed rebel to the King . . . after which, he must affix a copy of the letters to the market-cross: this is called the publication of the diligence, or denunciation at the horn.
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"Denunciation n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/denunciation>
