Lords in the Baronage of Scotland

The chapeau (or cap of maintenance) represents Scot barons in historical heraldry instead of a coronet
The Ancient Nobility of the Baronage of Scotland
Baronial Rank of Nobility[1] Baron (1st degree) 90% are barons Lord (2nd degree) very rare Earl (3rd degree) very rare Marquis (4th degree) only 1 Duke (5th degree) only 1
Titled nobles in the Baronage List of – Barons / Baronesses or Ladies Lords Earls / Countesses Marquis & Duke
Topics Lords of Regality The Much Honoured Nobility Noblesse Clan chief and chieftain Laird Younger (title) Maid (title) List of family seats of Scottish nobility Scottish Barony Register Forms of address Territorial designation Lord Lyon Baronage Family seat Order of precedence in Scotland
Convention of the Three Estates
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A Lord in the Baronage of Scotland is an ancient title of nobility, held in baroneum, which Latin term means that its holder, who is a lord, is also always a baron. The holder may or may not be a Lord of Regality, which meant that the holder was appointed by the Crown and had the power of "pit and gallows", meaning the power to authorise the death sentence.

A Scottish Baron is below a Lord of Parliament (the Scottish equivalent of an English baron) which is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, while a Lord in the Baronage of Scotland is a noble dignity of higher degree than Baron, but below an Earl in the Baronage of Scotland, which is a baron of still higher degree than a lordship.^[2] In the baronage there is only a small number of lordships compared to baronies, whilst earldoms are very rare.^[3]

While barons originally sat in parliament (along with Lords of Parliament and higher nobility who made up the peerage), all of the peerage, originally, was within the feudal system. Later, some of what used to be feudal lordships came to be known as peerages (such as that of The Right Honourable The Lord Forrester) while others were disponed, inherited by greater peers, or otherwise disqualified from the modern-day peerage. The feudal rights were gradually emasculated and, with the demise of the Scottish parliament in 1707, the right of barons to sit in parliament ceased altogether, unless, that is, a baron was also a peer (peerage rights are dealt with elsewhere).

The rights of the baronage were all but abolished by Act of Parliament in 1747, following the Jacobite rising. Baronage titles no longer provide any political power as such, although the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 has preserved the noble titles themselves (and the quality, precedence and heraldic rights pertaining) and with the end of feudalism coming into force in 2004, the act converted extant feudal titles into personal dignities, no longer attached to the land.

Only about 400 baronies are identified as existing in 1405.^[4] Burke's Landed Gentry for Scotland lists only about 130. Few are lordships.

Lords of regality, barons, lords and earls in the Baronage of Scotland are not to be confused with lairds (which is a Scottish term for property owner of a great estate) or a manorial lordship.