Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
PROROGATE, v. Also prorogat. Sc. legal and official usages, rare and obs. in Eng.:
1. To defer, postpone.Lnk. 1720 Minutes J.P.s (S.H.S.) 199:
To prorogat their dyets from time to time as they shall see cause.Sc. 1721 R. Wodrow Sufferings i. v. s. 4:
August 9th, I find, that upon Desire given in to the Council, they prorogate John Swinton, once of that Ilk, his Liberation out of Prison for a Month longer, and order him to return to Prison, September 9th.Sc. 1828 P. Tytler Hist. Scot. I. 171 note:
The day of assembling was afterwards prorogated to the 2d of August.
2. To defer the termination of (a period of time), to extend, prolong; freq. of leases, etc. (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 70), see quots. Hence prorogation, an extension of time, a lengthening of a given period or term of time.Sc. 1718 Acts of Sederunt (6 Dec.):
A Sist . . . shall not go beyond two months when granted or prorogated by three Ordinaries.Sc. 1739 Records Conv. Burghs (1915) 47:
Therefore the Committee prorogat the time for contending.Sc. 1771 Atholl MSS.:
The said Duke of Atholl . . . Does hereby prorogate . . . the forsaid Tack . . . for the Space of Twenty one Years Compleat. . . . For the first ten years of the prorogation or Superadded Years.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 795–6:
In judicial proceedings, a prorogation is a prolongation of the time appointed for reporting a diligence, lodging a paper, or obtempering any other judicial order . . . Prorogation of a lease is the extension of it.Sc. 1896 W. K. Morton Manual 295:
To prevent the failure of the submission, power is sometimes given to the arbiter to extend, or prorogate the time. Without such power the submission falls, unless the parties themselves prorogate it; that is, practically enter into a new agreement, which neither can compel the other to do.Sc. 1907 Acts 7 Edw. VII. c. 51. Sched. i. § 56:
The Sheriff may upon cause shown prorogate the time for lodging any production or pleading.
3. To extend the jurisdiction of a judge or court to cover matters usually ruled outside their competence; freq. of the pursuer in an action (see 1896 quot.) and gen. in phr. to prorogate jurisdiction, “to waive objections to an incompetent jurisdiction” (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 70). Hence prorogation, n., the extension of the jurisdiction of a judge or court of law.Sc. 1754 Erskine Principles i. ii. § 17:
In order to prorogation, the judge must have jurisdiction, such as may be prorogated . . . No consent can prorogate the jurisdiction of a judge whose commission is vacated, or its term expired; nor of a judge while he is out of his territory.Sc. 1896 W. K. Morton Manual 11:
A Scotsman resident in one county sued in the Sheriff Court of another, or an Englishman sued in a Scottish Court, may appear and consent to the judge disposing of the matter in dispute, termed prorogating his jurisdiction . . . Upon principle, it seems incompetent for parties to prorogate jurisdiction ab ante, by binding themselves in a contract to submit disputes under it to an English or Scottish court, as the case may be.Sc. 1927 Gloag and Henderson Intro. Law Scot. 19:
Prorogation only meets the objection that the court has no jurisdiction over the particular defender, not the objection that the case is one which the Court at common law or by statute, has no power to entertain.
