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.
RADICAL, n. Also Sc. variants raddikal (Angus); radigal; ¶ratical (Sc. 1827 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 371); raidical (Dmf. 1898 J. Paton Castlebraes 124). Sc. usages:
1. As in Eng., an advocate of radical reform: by extension, a wild, unruly person, a rogue, blackguard, rascal (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.; Sh., Bnff., Abd. 1967). Also in Eng. dial. Comb. radical coffee, see quot.Gsw. 1820 Farmer's Mag. (Feb.) 24:
Those mechanics, or their wives, whose constitutions do not agree with porridge, or whose purses cannot afford tea nor even coffee, use a substitute for the latter, now sold here at 7d. per pound, under the name of “Radical coffee” (because taken by some of the disaffected) and consists of horse-beans partially carbonised and ground down.Sc. 1840 G. Webster Ingliston x.:
She gae maistly every plack and penny o' her wages to thae vile radigals that she boarded him wi'.
2. Sc. Law in phr. radical right, legal estate or actual property right of an owner, as distinguished from equitable or trust rights affecting it.Sc. 1801 Morison Decisions Adjudication App. No. 11:
Trusts may also be granted for creditors or for interim management during the truster's life. In either of these cases the radical right and title of property remains with the truster.Sc. 1896 W. K. Morton Manual Law Scot. 451:
The trust conveyance . . . forms a burden upon the radical right remaining in the truster, and upon fulfilment of the trust purposes his title to the property revives without any re-conveyance by the trustee.Sc. 1927 Gloag & Henderson Intro. Law Scot. 496:
Where . . . the trust is an inter vivos one, the truster retains a reversionary interest in the trust-estate, which is frequently described as the “radical right” in the property.
