Barony

Barony is, or, it may rather be said, was a manorial and hereditary right arising out of land, known to the law both of England and Scotland. In England, manors were formerly called baronies. In the Scots law, a right of barony is a right in relation to lands which have been erected by a crown-charter making the grant in liberam baroniam. It involved a civil and criminal jurisdiction to which, in theory, all the inhabitants of the barony lands were amenable, but this was greatly reduced by the Heritable Jurisdictions Act passed after the Rebellion of 1745, and now exists only on the civil side for the purpose of recovering rents and duties, &c. The barons had also powers with reference to the trading privileges and municipal government of certain burghs, but trading privileges were abolished in 1847, and nearly all the older burghs have now adopted modern Police Acts (see BOROUGH, Vol. II. p. 339). Baronial jurisdiction, however, is still permitted in villages on the sea-coast for encouragement of fisheries, and the bailies thereof have the powers of justices of the peace. In England, the lord or baron of the manor may hold his Court Baron (see MANOR). In Ireland, the barony is the largest subdivision of the county. The Baronial Session deals with the expenditure of the barony, subject, however, to the authority of the Presentment Sessions for the whole county. The Baronial Session consists of local justices of the peace and an arbitrary number of elected cesspayers.