Definition
In old Scots law, a formal instrument — letters passing the signet — by which a debtor who had been "put to the horn" was released from that diligence and restored to civil standing. The horn was a coercive process of outlawry used to compel compliance with a court decree; relaxation was the mechanism for lifting it once the debtor satisfied the underlying obligation or otherwise obtained relief.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The act of relaxing or the state of being relaxed; remission of rigor, tension, or application; a loosening.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act or process of relaxing; remission from attention or effort; indulgence in recreation. Also used in the sense of relaxation of a law — i.e., abatement of its strictness.
Webster's usage is particularly relevant here: the phrase "relaxation of a law" in the common 1913 sense means softening or loosening a legal rule, which is entirely distinct from the Scots legal term, which describes a specific formal instrument of release from a named procedural diligence. A reader applying the Webster's sense to a Scots legal source will misread the term entirely.
Common Confusion
Relaxation (Scots law) should not be confused with: (1) remission, which in many legal traditions refers to forgiveness of a debt or penalty rather than a procedural release from diligence; (2) discharge, which carries broader modern connotations in bankruptcy and contract; or (3) general usage of "relaxation of [a rule or requirement]" in modern regulatory or contractual drafting, which is ordinary English and carries no connection to the Scots technical meaning.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is a near-complete historical artifact. Researchers encountering "relaxation" in Scots legal records, commentaries, or texts referencing Bell's Dictionary should treat it as a technical term of old Scots procedure — not as a general synonym for remission, waiver, or modification of legal obligation, which are the natural modern readings of the word. The danger is that a researcher scanning historical sources will mentally substitute the common meaning (loosening of a rule or requirement) and miss the specific procedural context: an instrument issued under royal authority (the signet) discharging a named debtor from the consequences of horning.
The term has no meaningful survival in modern legal usage. It does not appear in contemporary civil procedure, contract law, or statutory drafting as a term of art. If "relaxation" appears in a modern legal document, it almost certainly carries the ordinary English sense of loosening or abating a requirement — not the Scots technical sense. The research trap runs in both directions: applying the modern common meaning to old Scots sources, or misreading a passing reference to "relaxation of a rule" in a modern instrument as invoking historical doctrine.
Corpus connections: Relaxation is the counterpart instrument to horning and operates within the broader Scots diligence system. Researchers working in this area will need to trace the full procedural sequence — charge, horning, caption, and relaxation — to understand any given debtor's status. Bell's Dictionary of the Law of Scotland is the primary reference authority cited by both Black's and Burrill's, and should be the first stop for extended treatment.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (1st Ed.), Burrill's, and the Black's 2nd Ed. supplement are in precise agreement, all deriving from Bell's Dictionary. The three entries are functionally identical, with Burrill's adding a cross-reference to the entry for Horning that the Black's entries omit — making Burrill's marginally more useful for a researcher unfamiliar with the underlying Scots procedure. None of the three entries explains the mechanics of the signet, the procedural prerequisites for obtaining relaxation, or the consequences of its issuance, so they function as identifiers rather than full expositions of the doctrine. Researchers needing substantive treatment must go to Bell directly.
What the historical dictionaries miss: none of the entries addresses whether relaxation was a matter of right upon satisfaction of the debt or required judicial or crown discretion, nor do they address the period of Scots legal history in which the practice was most active. For research purposes, these are significant gaps that Bell's Dictionary and primary Scots legal histories must fill.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to historical Scots law and has no recognized counterpart in English common law, American law, or modern Scots law as practiced under the contemporary Scottish legal system. It should not be imported by analogy into any other jurisdiction.