Anglo-Scottish Border - History - Middle Shires

Middle Shires

King James VI & I decreed that the Borders should be renamed 'the Middle Shires'. In 1605 he established a single commission of ten drawn from equally Scotland and England to bring law and order to the region. Reivers could no longer escape justice by crossing from England to Scotland or vice versa. The rough-and-ready Border Laws were abolished and the folk of the middle shires found they had to obey the law of the land like all other subjects.

In 1603 the King placed George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar in charge of pacification of the borders. Courts were set up in the towns of the Middle Shires and known reivers were arrested. The more troublesome and lower classes were executed without trial; known as "Jeddart justice" (after the town of Jedburgh in Roxburghshire). Mass hanging soon became a common occurrence.

In 1607 James felt he could boast that "the Middle Shires" had "become the navel or umbilic of both kingdoms, planted and peopled with civility and riches". After ten years King James had succeeded; the Middle Shires had been brought under central law and order.

By the early 1620s the Borders were so peaceful that the Crown was able to scale down its operations.

Nevertheless, the Joint Commission continued its work, and as late as 25 September 1641 under King Charles II a local laird, Sir Richard Graham, was petitioning the Parliament of Scotland "for regulating the disorders in the borders".