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.
Quotation dates: 1722-1773, 1838, 1896
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†REBEL, n. Also reibell (Rnff. 1725 W. Hector Judicial Rec. (1876) I. 118). As in Eng., one who disobeys the will of the sovereign by resisting a legal summons, specif. in Sc. Law for non-payment of debt. See Horn, v., 4. Hence (civil) rebellion, this act of civil disobedience.Sc. 1722 W. Forbes Institute I. iii. 23:
After elapsing of the Days of the Charge, the Party may for his Disobedience be denounced Rebel, i.e. Outlaw, by three Blasts of a Horn.Sc. 1752 Bankton Institute iii. iii.:
It was for his not surrendering his person, (in default of payment) which was in his power, that he was pronounced rebel.Sc. 1773 Erskine Institute ii. v. 56:
The messenger must . . . read the letters . . . and blow three blasts with an horn; by which the debtor is understood to be proclaimed rebel to the King.Sc. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 819:
A debtor who disobeys a charge on letters of horning, to pay or perform in terms of his obligation, is accounted in law a rebel, in respect of his disobedience to the Sovereign's command, contained in the will of the letters; and it is upon this basis, that imprisonment for civil debt in Scotland chiefly rests. . . . This disobedience to the Royal command is termed civil rebellion; and denunciation on letters of horning was formerly followed with the penal consequences of actual rebellion.Sc. 1896 W. K. Morton Manual Law Scot. 481:
The pursuer required to go through a cumbrous procedure of obtaining letters of Horning, putting the defender to the horn, and denouncing him a rebel to the Crown's authority, which carried with it certain penalties. Such procedure is now obsolete.
