Definition
In old Scots law, a sure or certain pledge. The term denotes a form of surety or pledge considered reliable and binding — one that is secure in its obligation. The concept belongs to the early Scots feudal law of suretyship, in which the certainty or strength of a pledge was a recognized legal quality worth naming distinctly.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers are unlikely to encounter this term outside of early Scots legal sources and the glossaries written to explain them. It appears in historical Scots legal writing as a technical term of art rather than a term in active procedural use, meaning it functions more as a classifier of pledge quality than as a named legal action or instrument. If you encounter it in a manuscript or early printed source, it signals feudal-era Scots suretyship context.
The term connects to a cluster of related early Scots pledge terminology — including sacaburth and sacreborgh — which appear in Skene's glossary (De Verborum Significatione) as the primary reference point. Skene's work is the essential bridge source for this vocabulary; without it, these terms are essentially opaque. Researchers working in pre-Union Scots law should treat Burrill's entry here as a pointer to Skene rather than a complete definition.
Note that Burrill cross-references both Sacaburth and Sacreborgh, suggesting a family of related pledge terms in early Scots law that shared overlapping meanings. Establishing the precise distinctions between these terms requires consulting Skene directly, as secondary dictionaries (including Burrill) appear to treat them as near-synonyms without fully resolving the distinctions.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the only entry recovered for this term among standard historical legal dictionaries. Burrill derives the word from the Scots sicker (sure, certain) and borgh (pledge), and directs readers to Skene's De Verborum Significatione under the entry for Sacreborgh. Burrill does not elaborate on the procedural context or frequency of use, treating the term as a gloss requiring identification rather than extended explanation.
No entry for sickerborgii appears in Black's Law Dictionary or other common historical legal dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus, reflecting the term's narrow Scots provenance. The absence from English legal dictionaries is expected: early Scots feudal vocabulary was a distinct tradition, and terms like this were not received into English common law.
Skene's De Verborum Significatione (1597) is the foundational primary source for this term and the glossary tradition it belongs to. Researchers should consult Skene as the authoritative contemporaneous source; Burrill's entry is derivative of Skene and should be read accordingly.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to early Scots law predating the Acts of Union. It has no counterpart in English common law and no relevance to post-Union Scots law as a living term. Its significance is historical and philological.