around 1318, to be translated later into Scots along with the rest of that work. 44 The broad pattern here suggested is a move from the Celtic vernacular through french into Latin and finally into Scots as the text s relation to legal developments changed. And even this cannot be the whole story, given the presence of Anglo-Saxon elements suggesting further inter-mingling of languages at some stage, presumably early, in the development of the text Even a superficial analysis such as this suggests the complexity of the linguistic situation in medieval Scotland and its law. There were various linguistic communities which of necessity interacted and that interaction encompassed law and legal business. Dr John Bannerman has traced the relationship between Gaelic, Scots and Latin, 45 and it is clear from his study and from the words I have ventured here about the Leges inter Brettos et Scotos, that all three interacted from the twelfth century on, especially in legal contexts, where perhaps a particular stimulus was the face of Scots and Latin; it can be argued that the fourteenth century saw the increasing encounters between the languages in the courts. Nor is the picture one of the decline of Gaelic in respectability of Gaelic terms, or at any rate Scotticised versions thereof, appearing in otherwise Latin documents of the greatest formality. 46 Indeed there is some fragmentary evidence that legal documents which in other parts of Scotland would have been cast in Latin or Scots were in the Highlands drafted in Gaelic until a late period 47 Moreover, within the framework of the later medieval common law there operated significant figures who must have been at least bi-lingual in Scots and Gaelic. 48 I have not come across evidence for the use of interpreters in the medieval Scottish courts comparable to those found in other multi-lingual contexts in Europe, 9 but it may not have been necessary very often. One other intriguing possibility for the earlier medieval period in this connection is the judex or breitheam, a figure often found playing a significant if somewhat obscure role in the kings courts under the presid ing royal official Clearly men of Gaelic origins, they may well have acted as interpreters in court proceedings and so helped in the integration of the old Celtic with the new Anglo-Norman order. 50 A statute of 1318. written in Latin nevertheless shows that legal technicalities were already being expressed in Scots when it uses the evidently untranslatable Scots phrase, wrang and unlauch'51 This seems to refer to an action alleging breach of the king s peace, equivalent to See, in add ition to references already given, w.D.H. Sellar, "Celtic Law and Scots Law: Survival and Integration,, Scottish Studies, xxix(1989),p. I The Scots Language and the Kin-Based Society, in Scots and Gaelic in Harmony, ed D s.Thomson (Glasgow, 1990).See also Sellar, Celtic Law and Scots Law, passim A A M. Duncan, Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom(Edinburgh, 1974), p. 451 See R. Black, 'A Gaelic Contract of Lease, c1603x 1616, in Miscellany l, pp. 132-43 See J. Bannerman, The Lordship of the Isles, in Scottish Society in the Fifteenth Century, ed J.M. Brown (London, 1977), and H L Mac Queen, The Kin of Kennedy and Kenkynnol, in Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, ed. Grant and Stringer Bartlett, Making of Europe, p. 212 50 This is the suggestion in Bannerman, "Scots Language, pp 11-14. For the judex, see Barrow, Kingdomof the Scots, pp 69-82, and Sellar, "Celtic Law and Scots Law pp 3-4 See APs, i, pp. 466-74; a better edition of the Latin text can be found in RRS, v, pp 405-14around 1318, to be translated later into Scots along with the rest of that work.44 The broad pattern here suggested is a move from the Celtic vernacular through French into Latin and finally into Scots as the text’s relation to legal developments changed. And even this cannot be the whole story, given the presence of Anglo-Saxon elements suggesting further inter-mingling of languages at some stage, presumably early, in the development of the text. Even a superficial analysis such as this suggests the complexity of the linguistic situation in medieval Scotland and its law. There were various linguistic communities which of necessity interacted; and that interaction encompassed law and legal business. Dr John Bannerman has traced the relationship between Gaelic, Scots and Latin,45 and it is clear from his study, and from the words I have ventured here about the Leges inter Brettos et Scotos, that all three interacted from the twelfth century on, especially in legal contexts, where perhaps a particular stimulus was encounters between the languages in the courts. Nor is the picture one of the decline of Gaelic in the face of Scots and Latin; it can be argued that the fourteenth century saw the increasing respectability of Gaelic terms, or at any rate Scotticised versions thereof, appearing in otherwise Latin documents of the greatest formality.46 Indeed there is some fragmentary evidence that legal documents which in other parts of Scotland would have been cast in Latin or Scots were in the Highlands drafted in Gaelic until a late period.47 Moreover, within the framework of the later medieval common law there operated significant figures who must have been at least bi-lingual in Scots and Gaelic.48 I have not come across evidence for the use of interpreters in the medieval Scottish courts comparable to those found in other multi-lingual contexts in Europe,49 but it may not have been necessary very often. One other intriguing possibility for the earlier medieval period in this connection is the judex or breitheam, a figure often found playing a significant if somewhat obscure role in the king’s courts under the presiding royal official. Clearly men of Gaelic origins, they may well have acted as interpreters in court proceedings and so helped in the integration of the old Celtic with the new Anglo-Norman order.50 A statute of 1318, written in Latin, nevertheless shows that legal technicalities were already being expressed in Scots when it uses the evidently untranslatable Scots phrase, ‘wrang and unlauch’.51 This seems to refer to an action alleging breach of the king’s peace, equivalent to, 44 See, in addition to references already given, W.D.H. Sellar, ‘Celtic Law and Scots Law: Survival and Integration’, Scottish Studies, xxix (1989), p. 11. 45 ‘The Scots Language and the Kin-Based Society’, in Scots and Gaelic in Harmony, ed. D.S. Thomson (Glasgow, 1990). See also Sellar, ‘Celtic Law and Scots Law’, passim. 46 A.A.M. Duncan, Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom (Edinburgh, 1974), p. 451. 47 See R. Black, ‘A Gaelic Contract of Lease, c1603 x 1616’, in Miscellany II, pp. 132-43. 48 See J. Bannerman, ‘The Lordship of the Isles’, in Scottish Society in the Fifteenth Century, ed. J.M. Brown (London, 1977), and H.L. MacQueen, ‘The Kin of Kennedy and Kenkynnol’, in Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, ed. Grant and Stringer. 49 Bartlett, Making of Europe, p. 212. 50 This is the suggestion in Bannerman, ‘Scots Language’, pp. 11-14. For the judex, see Barrow, Kingdom of the Scots, pp. 69-82, and Sellar, ‘Celtic Law and Scots Law’, pp. 3-4. 51 See APS, i, pp. 466-74; a better edition of the Latin text can be found in RRS, v, pp. 405-14