Definition
An archaic Scots legal term meaning advice or counsel. The term appears in early Scottish legal records and proceedings as a variant form of the word "advise," reflecting the phonological and orthographic conventions of Old Scots legal writing. In practice, it denoted the formal opinion or deliberative guidance rendered by a court or judicial officer in the course of proceedings.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in pre-modern Scottish legal records — particularly criminal trial records from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — will encounter AWYSE as a phonetic rendering of what later sources normalize as "advise" or "advice." The term is a marker of Old Scots legal orthography and should not be treated as a term of art distinct from its normalized equivalents. Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, the source Burrill cites, is the primary corpus for this kind of early Scottish criminal procedure language, and variant spellings are common throughout. Researchers should not expect AWYSE to appear in later Scottish or English legal dictionaries under this spelling; tracing the concept forward requires searching under ADVICE or ADVISE. The term has no significant doctrinal content independent of its meaning as deliberative counsel — its interest is paleographic and linguistic rather than substantive legal.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary identifies AWYSE as Old Scots for "advice," citing Pitcairn's Criminal Trials. That is the extent of the historical dictionary record for this precise spelling. Burrill does not elaborate on procedural context or distinguish any technical legal meaning beyond the plain sense of counsel or deliberative opinion. No other major historical legal dictionary — not Jacob's Law Dictionary, not Tomlin's, not Bouvier's — appears to carry this entry, reflecting its narrow provenance in Scottish archival sources rather than the broader common law tradition. The adjacent entry in Burrill referencing the Greek term ΑΞΙΩΣΙΣ is unrelated; the proximity is alphabetical coincidence. Researchers should treat Burrill's entry as a transliteration note rather than a doctrinal definition.
Jurisdictional Note
AWYSE is specific to early Scottish legal usage and has no recognized counterpart in English common law sources or other jurisdictions. Its relevance is confined to historical Scots law research.