[1592/4/200]¹

Ratification to [Robert Seton], lord Seton

²Our sovereign lord, now after his majesty's perfect age of 25 years complete, general and last revocation, with advice and consent of his highness's estates of this present parliament, and the said estates have ratified and approved and, by the tenor hereof, ratify and approve and, for his highness and his successors, perpetually confirm the charter and infeftment made and granted by his majesty to his highness's beloved Robert, lord Seton, his heirs and successors in his barony and lordship of Seton, lying with in the sheriffdom of Edinburgh and constabulary of Haddington, of the erection of the harbour of Cockenzie in a free harbour, and of the erection of the town of Cockenzie in a free burgh of barony, and of diverse offices, gifts, commodities and others particularly underwritten, specified in the said charter and infeftment under the great seal of the date at Dalkeith, 1 April 1591, in all and sundry erections, gifts, donations, points, passages, articles, clauses, immunities, privileges, liberties and circumstances whatsoever therein contained; and decree and declare for his majesty and his highness's successors that the same charter and infeftment is, and shall be in all time coming, effectual, good, valid and sufficient to the said Robert, lord Seton, his said heirs and successors in the said barony and lordship of Seton for the peaceable possessing and enjoying of the said free harbour and free burgh of barony, and of the offices, gifts and commodities contained in the said charter and infeftment with all liberties, privileges and others specified in the same, perpetually and in all time coming, according to the tenor and substance thereof in all points; notwithstanding his majesty's revocation made in this present parliament, or any other revocation made of before, or any others of his highness's acts, laws, statutes and constitutions, general or special, made heretofore to the prejudice or derogation thereof, or any of the liberties, privileges or commodities expressed in the same, under the which the said charter and infeftment, nor any part thereof, shall never be comprehended by any manner of way; and ordain [Alexander Hay of Easter Kennet], clerk register, to insert the said charter and infeftment at length therein for perpetual memory in due form as appropriate, of the which charter and infeftment the tenor follows:

James, by the grace of God, king of Scots, gives greetings to all good men throughout his land, both clergy and laity. Let it be known that we, understanding that our beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton has recently expended and intends to expend great resources and costs in relation to the construction of a port beside the sea shore at his township and lands of Cockenzie, lying in his barony and the lordship of Seton, within our sheriffdom of Edinburgh and the constabulary of Haddington, to receive and protect ships and boats, and for the great easement of our lieges and other outsiders calling in there, and so, applauding our said beloved kinsman's good intention for the advantage of our state, and for the good, loyal and gracious service offered and given by our said beloved kinsman and his predecessors of longstanding memory to us and our most noble progenitors, we have elevated and by the contents of our present charter do elevate the said port of Cockenzie to a free port to a special and full extent, in favour of our foresaid beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton, his heirs and successors of the said barony and lordship of Seton to use as a free port for all future time in perpetuity, and to collect, intromit, receive and apply to their own uses the harbour dues commonly called haven silver, small customs, anchorage payments and any other dues and casual payments relating to any free port within our realm, as if barons and lords of the site where the port is located. Besides we, considering the great outlays and expenses which our said beloved kinsman, his heirs and successors will be forced to pay towards the building and construction of the said port before it can come to completion, and towards its maintenance once completed, and understanding that the said port was at no time in the past of any profit to us or our predecessors in terms of any customs due to us, for that reason and for the good, loyal and gracious service offered and given to us and our predecessors by our foresaid beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton and his predecessors, we, after our achievement of the age of 21 years as proclaimed in our parliament and the general revocation and dissolution of the annexation of our property made in feu ferm and lease, have given, granted, leased, rented and surrendered in heritage by feu ferm or in perpetuity and by this present charter of ours have confirmed and by its wording do give, grant, lease, rent and surrender in heritage by feu ferm or in perpetuity and by this present charter of ours do confirm in favour of our foresaid beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton, his heirs and successors of the said barony and lordship of Seton, all and singly, [the power to] our said beloved kinsman, his heirs and successors to intromit, levy, use, convey and apply to their own uses our big customs which are competent for us and our successors on all goods and merchandise imported and carried from the said port for all time to come, for the payment to us of an annual due as mentioned below as feu ferm. Further, we have made, established and ordained and by the contents of our present charter do make, establish and ordain our foresaid beloved kinsman and his foresaid heirs and successors as our investigators, commonly called searchers, of all goods banned and not subject to customs which come into the said port in future, and impose or waive in that regard. Also we have given, granted and made over, and by the contents our present charter do give, grant and make over to them our full role and responsibility to investigate, arrest, apprehend and intromit the foresaid goods and merchandise which are banned and not liable to customs as if it were our escheat, and to pass one half of them to us and our successors, and apply the other half to the particular uses of our said kinsman, his heirs and successors for their diligence and work. Also to this effect we have given and granted and by the contents of our present charter do give and grant full authority to our beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton and his foresaid heirs and successors, by themselves or by their deputies, to establish and conduct a court or courts for the investigation of the said goods which are banned or not liable to customs, and in these courts to defer and prosecute as the process of law demands, and also with authority to our said beloved kinsman and his foresaid successors to have one cocket (commonly called 'the cokquet') with the privilege of the seal of the same and of appointing and establishing thereafter a warden and clerk of the same, whenever it seems necessary, and of creating the seal of the said cocket, namely our arms on one side, with a castle on the other side and with the circumscription of 'The Seal of Cockenzie'. Further, appreciating that the elevation of the said port into a free port for the inhabitants of our land and for outsiders is not only convenient for shelter and visits from landwards as well as from the sea, for the safety of their own ships, boats and merchandise, but also for the polity of the kingdom, it is very necessary to have houses, buildings, inns and taverns commonly called hostelries for the sustenance and support of merchants and others using the said port. Therefore we have elevated, made, established and created, and by the contents of our present charter do elevate, make, establish and create the foresaid township of Cockenzie as a free burgh of barony, with a free port in perpetuity for all time to come, with special and full authority to our said beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton and his foresaid heirs and successors of the barony and lordship of Seton to select, make, establish and create within the said burgh bailies, burgesses and officials and their replacements and any other officials necessary for its administration and government, and annually to choose, remove, impose and replace in these offices the bailies and other officials as seems expedient to them, with special and full power to the burgesses of the said burgh, both present and future, in relation to pack and peel and to buy and sell in the same burgh wine, wax, broad and narrow wool and linen and other common merchandise and staple goods (commonly called 'staple guidis'), and to have and hold in the foresaid burgh bakers, brewers, fishermen, tailors, cobblers, weavers, cutters, fullers, builders, carpenters and all other craftsmen necessary and relating to the liberty of a free burgh, and also with the authority to our foresaid beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton and his foresaid heirs and successors to build and hold within the said burgh a tolbooth and market cross and a weekly market on Saturdays, together with a free fair once per year on the feast of Simon and Jude [28 October], with the privilege of holding a market at the said fair and collecting, receiving and applying the customs to their own uses, and for the observance of good order to appoint depute officials, and also with special and free power to our said beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton and his foresaid heirs and successors to receive surrenders of, all and singly, lands, tenements and annualrents within the said burgh, and to hand over and convey them to any person or persons, with all infeftments, sasines and other things as necessary, and to establish, fix, affirm and open, hold and continue burgh courts within the said burgh and liberty as often as seems expedient, and to create and select successive clerks, dempsters and other officials and members of court as necessary; also the power to punish transgressors within the laws of our realm, to levy and to intromit outcomes, amercements and escheats of the said courts and apply them to their own uses, and for these, if necessary, to impound and distrain, and generally to do, carry out and exercise, all and singly, everything in line with and expedient for the foresaid. Whole and complete the foresaid port and foresaid burgh of barony are to be held and had by our foresaid beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton and his said heirs and successors of the said barony and lordship of Seton from us and our successors in fee and heritage and free port and free burgh of barony, and also our foresaid big customs owed to us by our foresaid beloved kinsman and his heirs and successors from us and our successors in feu ferm of emphyteusis and heritage in perpetuity, with free entry and exit, and with, all and singly, the other liberties, advantages, profits, easements and any just pertinents, whether named or not, above or under ground, far and near, relating or justly able to relate in future to the foresaid port and burgh of barony, and to our said big customs, with their pertinents, freely, quietly, fully, completely, honourably, well and in peace, without any revocation or obstacle. In return, annually our foresaid beloved kinsman Robert, lord Seton and his foresaid heirs and successors, shall render to us and our successors, namely for the said free port and foresaid burgh of barony, one silver penny on the feast of Pentecost as blench ferm only, if sought, and for our said big customs to us our successors and our comptrollers at the time the sum of 10 merks annually at Martinmas [11 November] as blench ferm; also our foresaid beloved kinsman and his heirs and successors shall make a payment annually to our exchequer of one equal half of the foresaid escheat of banned goods and goods not liable to customs which happen to be in future apprehended and intromitted and found and declared to be escheat within the lordship port. In testimony of this we have instructed our great seal to be applied to this present charter of ours. Witnesses were our beloved kinsmen and councillors John [Hamilton], lord Hamilton, commendator of our monastery of Arbroath, William [Douglas], earl of Angus, lord Douglas and Abernethy, George [Keith], earl Marischal, lord Keith, marischal of our realm, our beloved familiars and councillors John [Maitland], lord Thirlestane, our chancellor and secretary, Walter [Stewart], commendator of our monastery of Blantyre, warden of our privy seal, Alexander Hay of Easter Kennet, clerk of our rolls of register and council, Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchnoull, our justice clerk, and Master William Scott of Grange[muir], director of our chancellery. At Dalkeith on 1 April in the year of the Lord 1591 and the twenty-fourth year of our reign.