Assoilzie - To absolve, or finally find in favour of, the defender
Avizandum - To be looked into or considered. A process is said to be at Avizandum when the judge, after debate, is considering it with a view to pronouncing a decision.
Bona Vacantia - Property of a person dying without successors, which falls to the Crown. (You may be interested to read about the
The Office of Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, which deals with Bona Vacantia, and which falls under the office of the
Crown Agent)
Desert - To "desert the diet" is to give up a criminal charge, either "pro loco et tempore" when a fresh charge can be brought, or "simpliciter" which is final.
Fire-raising - Scottish technical term for arson
Hamesucken - An assault committed upon a person in his own house. Once a capital offence and still an aggravated form of assault, particularly if accompanied by robbery
Indictment - An accusation of a crime, running in the name of the
Lord Advocate. Tried by a jury in serious cases in the High Court of Sheriff Court
Justifiable Homicide - Killing in the exercise of a public duty as e.g. execution of sentence of death, or of a private right, as e.g. in self-defence
Libel - In addition to its meaning of written defamation, this word also has the meaning of a criminal indictment (see above). The verb can also have both meanings, to defame in writing and to charge as a crime.
Lockfast Place - A room, cupboard, box and the like within a house, the breaking into which constitutes an aggravation of theft.
Panel or pannel - The prisoner at the bar
Plagium - The stealing of a human being, for example the abduction of a child
Precognition - A statement or record of the evidence a person may be expected to give if called as a witness in proceedings civil or criminal, as ascertained by his interrogation on behalf of a party or parties to the proceedings.
Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer - The general administrator of Crown Revenues in Scotland
Reset - The crime of receiving stolen property, knowing it to have been stolen
Special Defence - A defence to a criminal charge, which must be intimated before the trial e.g. alibi or self-defence
Treasure trove - Valuables of which the owner is unknown, found in the ground and assumed to be abandoned
Utter - In regard to forgery of documents, banknotes and coinage, to utter is to put the false materials to use with the intent to deceive others as to their true value
References:
A G M Duncan: Green's Glossary of Scottish Terms, W Green, 3rd edition, 1992
John Traynor: Latin Maxims and Phrases, Caledonian Books, 4th edition 1986