Definition
A decree of locality is a judicial order issued by a Scottish teind court that allocates a minister's stipend among the various heritors (landowners) of a parish according to their respective shares of the teind — the ecclesiastical levy assessed on the produce of land within the parish. The decree fixes how much each heritor must contribute toward the minister's maintenance, distributing the burden proportionally across the landed interests subject to teinds.
In practical terms, it functions as a formal apportionment instrument: once issued, each heritor knows precisely what portion of the minister's stipend is charged against their land. The decree of locality is accordingly described by both Black's and Bouvier's as equivalent to the apportionment of a tithe rent-charge under English law — the closest analogue in a jurisdiction more familiar to most common-law researchers.
Why It Matters in Research
This term operates entirely within the historical context of Scots ecclesiastical and land law and will appear almost exclusively in pre-twentieth-century Scottish legal materials, teind court records, and comparative law discussions of ecclesiastical finance. Researchers encountering it in historical documents should understand three things:
First, the teind court was a specialized Scottish court with jurisdiction over matters relating to teinds (the Scottish equivalent of tithes). Its decrees, including decrees of locality, were binding determinations of heritable obligation running with the land, not personal judgments against individual owners. A researcher reading older Scottish title abstracts or heritable property disputes may encounter references to an existing decree of locality as a burden on the subjects (property) being conveyed.
Second, the term appears in connection with the broader Scottish process of teind augmentation and locality. A minister seeking an increase in stipend would petition for augmentation; if granted, a new or revised decree of locality would follow to reallocate the increased amount among heritors. Understanding this procedural sequence is essential for interpreting teind court records chronologically.
Third, researchers using this term as an entry point into comparative ecclesiastical property law should be alert to terminological slippage. English sources discussing tithe rent-charge, modus decimandi, or corn rents are addressing cognate but structurally distinct systems. The Scottish teind system had its own statutory foundation, particularly under legislation following the Reformation and the various Teinds Acts, and should not be read as merely a regional variant of the English tithe regime.
This term has no meaningful modern legal application outside historical research, Scottish church history, or heritable property law dealing with pre-twentieth-century burdens.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Bouvier's Law Dictionary provide identical definitions, which is itself instructive: both sources likely drew from the same pool of Scots law reference material available to nineteenth-century American legal lexicographers. Neither source elaborates on the procedural mechanics of the teind court, the relationship between augmentation proceedings and the locality decree, or the effect of the decree as a heritable burden. Neither distinguishes the decree of locality from related instruments such as the decree of modified stipend or the decree of augmentation. Researchers relying solely on these dictionary entries will have the correct conceptual frame — apportionment of ecclesiastical levy among landowners — but will need to consult specialized sources in Scots ecclesiastical and property law for operational detail.
The English-law analogy to tithe rent-charge that both dictionaries offer is useful as a first orientation but should not be pressed too far in serious research. Scottish teinds and English tithes diverged substantially in their administration, commutation history, and legal treatment of heritors versus tithe-owners.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to Scots law and has no direct equivalent in English, American, or other common-law jurisdictions. Researchers working in English ecclesiastical law should look instead to tithe rent-charge, corn rent, or modus decimandi. The term has no application in any U.S. legal context.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
No Law Mind Encyclopedia entry directly addresses Scottish teind law or ecclesiastical land charges. The matching entries suggested — divorce decree modification, local administrative agencies, and tax-exempt bond interest — are not relevant to this term and are omitted accordingly.