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.
PROTOCOL, n. Also protocoll, prothocall, -gall. Sc. forms and usage: the notebook or register in which a notary or the like recorded the details of a transaction or business arrangement, later esp. in conveyance of property, on which the subsequent legal agreement was to be based, “a book used by notaries for inserting copies of notarial instruments which they execute” (Sc. 1946 A. D. Gibb Legal Terms 70) the protocol being orig. the minute or entry itself. Now hist. Also in combs. protocol-book, — record, id.m.Lth. 1713 J. Paterson Musselburgh (1857) 31:
The Councill appoynts the present Baylies and thesaurer . . . to take inspection into the prothogalls, and other books or papers belonging to the town.Sc. 1754 Erskine Principles ii. iii. § 19:
From this statute were excepted seisins of burgage tenements, probably from an opinion of the exactness, with which the town-clerks, who alone could be notaries thereto . . . booked them in their protocolls or registers, which lie open to all the lieges.Sc. 1815 in Scott Waverley l.:
A corresponding entry was made in the protocol of the Lord High Chamberlain.m.Lth. 1857 J. Paterson Musselburgh 31:
The burgh had a protocol record.Sc. 1936 Intro. Sc. Law (Stair Soc.) 295:
Protocol Books are a valuable source of information for the study of early legal practice, as in the course of his professional career he was called upon to deal with all kinds of legal problems concerning personal and heritable rights.
