Subject_1 FORUM COMPETENS. Subject_2 DIVISION. II.
Forum Competens Ratione Domicilii.
The Barbers of Edinburgh v. Wilson and Blair
Date: 26 January 1743 Case No. No 13.
Inhabitants of Canongate were found amenable to the Courts of Edinburgh, when prosecuted for infringement of the privileges of the burgesses of Edinburgh.
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In an action at the instance of the Berbers of Edinburgh against Wilson and Blair, barbers in Canongate, for shaving, &c. within the town of Edinburgh though not freemen of the city, it was controverted, 1mo, Whether action lay, seeing the defenders were not apprehended in the actual transgression; and argued, that it did not, from the analogy of the 24th act, Parliament 1633, and act 5th, Parliament 2d, sess. 3d, Ch. II. which were acts made for securing burghs from unfree traders, and whereby the penalty of contravention is declared to be confiscation of goods; but it is therein expressly enacted, that the Magistrates of burghs shall not, on the account foresaid, trouble or molest the lieges, unless the delinquents be apprehended in the actual and present transgression of the privileges of the burgh. And, 2do, Whether the defenders, who were not resident in the town of Edinburgh, were amenable before the Dean of Guild of Edinburgh.
The Lords found, that the action lay, and that the analogy from the statute did not apply; and that the defenders being cited within the town of Edinburgh, where the trespass was committed, were regularly cited.
Such is the criminal law in general, that where a delinquent is cited within the territory in which the delict is committed, he is amenable to the courts of, that territory.
