The Laws And Customes Of Scotland, In Matters Criminal Wherein Is To Be Seen How The Civil Laws, And The Laws And Customs Of Other Nations Do Agree With, And Supply Ours.
Edinburgh: James Glen, 1678. 8vo. Hardcover. pp. [1], [14], 581. Contemporary brown calf boards with later early 19th Century re-spined in dark blue roan. Title page in red and black. As Lord Advocate, Mackenzie (1636-1691) was the minister responsible for persecuting the policy of Charles II in Scotland against the Presbyterian Covenanters. After the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679 Mackenzie imprisoned 1,200 Covenanters in a field next to Greyfriars Kirkyard. Some were executed, and hundreds died of maltreatment. His treatment of Covenanters gained him the nickname of "Bloody Mackenzie". The Laws and Customes, was the first book published in Scottish criminal law, containing sections on witchcraft, bestiality, adultery, bigamy, 'Breaking Of Prison' and duelling, and defending judicial torture. A good tidy copy of the 1st edition of this scarce, important and interesting work. Good. Item #017328
Price: $2,932.22 NZD