Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
GRATUITOUS, adj. Sc. Law. Of a deed: made or granted without any value being given for it (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms).Sc. 1754 Erskine Principles iv. i. § 13:
Provisions to children are, in the judgment of law, gratuitous.Sc. 1838 Bell Dict. Law Scot. 457:
Where the deed is gratuitous, and constitutes an obligation to be afterwards implemented, if the granter shall . . . fall into poverty, he may . . . retain sufficient for his own subsistence. . . . The warrandice of gratuitous deeds extends only to future donations.Sc. 1903 Erskine Principles iii. i. § 1:
The obligation . . . may be gratuitous, being preceded by no adequate valuable consideration, as in the case of a donation and some mutual settlement.
