PREFACE. FROM the year 1266 to 1468, the Orkney and Zetland Islands were acknowledged, by treaties betwixt Scotland and Norway, to be a province of the latter power. On the marriage of James III. of Scotland, to Margaret, a daughter of Christian I. of Denmark and Norway, they were pledged as a security for the portion of the royal bride. They were never afterwards redeemed; and, by the lapse of time, and many acts of annexation, they have long been held as a part of Scotland. By the treaty of marriage in which they were impignorated to Scotland, (8th September 1468) it was stipulated that the laws and customs of Norway should be continued in the province until redeemed; and this stipulation was recognised by the parliament of Scotland. The connection, however, with this country, gradually introduced the laws and customs of Scotland, until at length, in the reigns of Queen Mary and King James VI., very considerable changes took place. A very important one was, the introduction of written land rights in place of the udal or allodial tenure which prevailed in Norway and its territories; a kind of holding which required no written titles, and involved none of the peculiarities of the feudal form. But al a |