elonging to some
distant part of the country, to sit in judgment in those cases in which
the accused was at feud with the warden. On two occasions when courts were
being held at Jedburgh, it was found expedient to issue proclamations in
the King's name,--"That na maner of persons tak upon hand to invaid ane an
uther for ald feid or new, now cumand to this present air or passand
tharfra, and induring the tyme thairof under the pane of dede; and that na
maner of persone or persons beir wapins except kniffis at their beltis,
bot alanerlie our soverane lordis household, the justice, constable,
merschell, compositouris, thair men and houshald, schireff, crounaris and
thair deputis, under the pane of escheting of the wapins and punishing of
the persons beraris therof."[52] Owing to the disturbed condition of the
country, such precautions were much needed, although it must be admitted
that they did not always secure the end desired.

Many of the Border feuds present features of great interest alike to the
sociologist and the historian. They afford interesting glimpses of the
condition of society in this part of the realm, and disclose the dominant
passions by which the lives and characters of those more immediately
concerned were shaped and determined. Throughout the greater part of the
16th century a fierce feud raged between two of the most noted and
powerful Border families--the Scotts and the Kers. The circumstances which
gave rise to this deadly feud form an interesting chapter in the history
of the Borders.

During the minority of James V. the Earl of Angus controlled the
government of the country, and in his own interests, and for the
furtherance of his own ends, kept a watchful eye on the movements of the
young King. In the year 1525, James, accompanied by Angus, and other
members of the court, came south to Jedburgh, "and held justice aires
quhair manie plaintes cam to him of reiff, slauchter and oppression, bot
little justice was used bot the purse, for thir was manie in that countrie
war the Earl of Angus' kin and friendis, that got favourable justice,
quhairof the king was not content, nor non of the rest of the lordis that
war about him, for they wold have justice equally used to all men; bot the
Earl of Angus and the rest of the Douglass' rulled yitt still as they
pleased, and no man durst find fault with their proceidingis; quhairat the
king was heartilie displeased, and would fain have been out of their
handis