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.
†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.
