Scotland - Members of Parliament

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Scottish Parliament Debating Chamber, Holyrood, Edinburgh.

Members of the Scottish Parliament

The Parliament of Scotland, or Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The parliament, like other such institutions, evolved during the Middle Ages from the king's council of bishops and earls. It is first identifiable as a parliament in 1235, during the reign of Alexander II.

This category is intended for amalgamating Members of Parliament who served in the Scottish Parliaments between the recognised formation of Parliament, in c. 1235, and the Acts of the Union, in 1707. ^[1] Profiles with service dated earlier than this may be attributed to this category if appropriate but Profiles with service dated after 1707 should be attributed to Members of Parliament, Great Britain.

The members were collectively referred to as the Three Estates (Middle Scots: Thrie Estaitis), or "community of the realm" (tres communitates), composed of until 1690:

• the first estate of prelates (bishops and abbots)
• the second estate of the nobility (dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, parliamentary peers (after 1437) and lay tenants-in-chief)
• the third estate of Burgh or Shire Commissioners (representatives chosen by the royal burghs and the shires).

The Riding of Parliament (the procession of members to and from the meeting place of Parliament) c. 1685, from Nicholas de Gueudeville's Atlas Historique, ou Nouvelle Introduction à l'Histoire à la Chronologie & à la Géographie Ancienne & Moderne (Amsterdam, 1720)

Locations & Acts of the Scottish Parliament

Prior to the completion of Parliament House in Edinburgh in 1639, there was no purpose-built chamber as at the Palace of Westminster in England and the Scottish parliament met in a variety of diverse, and sometimes unusual, locations.

Parliament Hall, Edinburgh

Surprisingly, in March 2016, no fewer than eighty-four acts of the pre-1707 Scottish Parliament were still in force.

See:

• Pre-1707 statutes still in force
• Housing the Estates: Parliamentary Locations and Buildings
• The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 (RPS)

This category is managed by the British Isles Politicians Project in association with the Categorization Project. For assistance with this or related categories ask in G2G making sure to tag your question with both categorization and British Isles Politicians.