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Forasmuch as by the sixty-first act of the sixth parliament held by King James IV, of blessed memory, in the year 1503, the shire of Inverness was, for the good and ease of the subjects, divided into several jurisdictions of sheriffdoms, whereof the sheriffdom of Ross was one, and the king's majesty, finding that division of the shire to be very useful for the more convenient and speedy administration of justice, and it being most fit that for removing of all differences and debates that may occur concerning the bounds of the said shires does, therefore, with advice and consent of his estates of parliament, declare and enact that in all time coming the shire of Ross shall be marched from the Stockford of Ross inclusive, including the lordship of Ardmeanach and all the lands and bounds within the old diocese of Ross on the north side of the Ferry Kessock (excepting the lands belonging to the Lord Lovat and his vassals, the sheriffdom of Cromarty and so much of the lands of Ferintosh as pertained formerly to the sheriffdom of Nairn) and that the shire of Ross comprehend the island of Lewis pertaining to the earl of Seaforth, and ordains that all legal executions, administration of justice, burdens and other things concerning these shires be ordered and regulated according to the division and bounding above-written, that all legal executions be at the burgh of [...] and the sheriff courts at the burgh of Dingwall, Tain or Fortrose, as the sheriff shall think fit.