March law (Anglo-Scottish border)

March law (Anglo-Scottish border) (or Marcher law, or laws and customs of the marches) was a system of customary international law dealing with cross-border dispute settlement, operating during the medieval and early-modern periods in the area of the Anglo-Scottish border or Anglo-Scottish marches. The word "march" is the Old English form of the Old French word "marche" meaning "boundary", and its use was not unique to the Anglo-Scottish border - the Anglo-Welsh border and the Anglo-Irish marches had their own versions of "the Law of the Marches". They were "essentially a set of regulations for the prosecution of offences committed by the inhabitants of one country inside the territory of the other, and for the recovery of property stolen or lent across their common border".^[1]

The laws were administered (from the late thirteenth-century onwards) by the Wardens of the Marches in times of war between England and Scotland, and by "conservators of the truce" in times of peace, although, given that periods of truce were invariably subject to cross-border raiding, piracy and ransom-taking, the two roles were often amalgamated into that of "warden-conservator". The work of the courts was done at periodic gatherings of plaintiffs and defendants, along with the designated warden-conservators and the jurors ("recognitors") from both England and Scotland, at a pre-decided place either side of the border line on what were called "days of march" (or "days of truce").

In England, March law ran side-by-side with English common law, often in an unclear way (and with the latter sometimes being subverted by the Wardens to their own ends). As well as common law, March Law had elements of equity and military law in its make-up.^[2]

March law was usually most in force during times of truce, as, during times of war with the Scots, the English Crown, claiming sovereignty over Scottish territory, would refuse to recognise a separate judicial entity in Scotland.