Definition
In Scots law, to outlaw a person by judicial sentence, specifically as a consequence of failing to appear in response to a criminal citation. When a court fugitates an accused, it formally declares that person an outlaw — a status carrying significant legal consequences, including forfeiture of goods and chattels to the Crown. The act of fugitating is performed by the court itself; the resulting status and the judicial proceeding that produces it are both captured by the related noun FUGITATION.
Common Confusion
FUGITATE should not be confused with the English concept of outlawry, though the practical effect is similar. Outlawry in English common law developed through a distinct procedural history and applied across a broader range of circumstances. Fugitation is a specifically Scots law mechanism, triggered by the precise circumstance of criminal non-appearance, and researchers should resist importing English outlawry doctrine when interpreting Scottish sources that use this term.
Why It Matters in Research
This is a term of exclusively Scots law significance. Researchers working in Scottish criminal records, particularly pre-Union or early post-Union materials, will encounter fugitation as a distinct procedural step in criminal proceedings — not merely a descriptive label for an absconding accused, but a formal judicial act with legal consequences. The forfeiture consequence (goods and chattels to the Crown) means fugitation can appear in property records and Crown revenue documents as well as criminal process files, so researchers tracing asset histories in Scottish archives should be alert to its presence outside purely criminal contexts.
The term does not appear in English common law sources in this sense. A researcher relying on English legal dictionaries alone, or treating Scots and English legal procedure as interchangeable in historical sources, will miss the technical weight the word carries. Because the triggering condition is non-appearance — not conviction — fugitation marks an early procedural stage, not a final judgment on guilt. This distinction matters when assessing the legal standing of individuals described as fugitated in historical records.
Historical Dictionary Support
All four source dictionaries align closely on the core definition: to outlaw by judicial sentence for non-appearance in a criminal case, with Burrill, Bouvier, and both Black's editions referencing Alison's Criminal Practice as the primary authority (cited variously as "2 Alison's Crim. Pr. 350" and "2 Alis. Crim. Pr. 350"). The consistency across sources reflects that this is a narrow, well-settled term within Scots law rather than a contested or evolving concept.
Black's 2nd Edition provides the most complete entry by adding the consequence: fugitation induces forfeiture of goods and chattels to the Crown. This detail is absent from the 1st Edition's entry as reproduced in the source material (where the entry appears truncated), and also absent from Burrill's otherwise parallel definition. Bouvier's entry, while substantively identical to Burrill's, adds a cross-reference to the following entry ("See next title"), suggesting that FUGITATION was treated as a separate headword with supplementary material — a structure that underscores the term's procedural specificity in Scots legal practice.
No source attempts to trace an English common law parallel or equivalent, which is itself informative: the term was understood by all compilers as belonging to a discrete jurisdictional tradition.
Jurisdictional Note
FUGITATE and FUGITATION are terms of Scots law only. They have no recognized equivalent in English, Irish, or American legal systems. Researchers working in jurisdictions outside Scotland who encounter these terms in historical documents are almost certainly dealing with Scottish parties, Scottish proceedings, or Scottish legal commentary.