Scot and lot (from
Old FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 900 to 1300...
escot, Old English
sceot, a payment; lot, a portion or share) is a phrase common in the records of
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
medieval
boroughA borough is an administrative division of various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
s, applied to
householderA householder is a person who is the head of a household; see House.Householder is also a family name:*Alston Scott Householder, American mathematician
Mathematical topics named after A.S...
s who were assessed for a tax (such as
tallageTallage or talliage may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a landuse or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon cities, boroughs, and royal domains...
) paid to the borough for local or national purposes.
They were usually members of a
merchant guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
.
Before the
Reform Act 1832The Representation of the People Act 1832, commonly known as the Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of the United Kingdom...
, those who paid scot and bore lot were often entitled to the
franchiseSuffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. It is also called political franchise or simply the franchise. Suffrage may apply to elections, but also extends to initiatives and referendums...
.
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Scot and lot (from
Old FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 900 to 1300...
escot, Old English
sceot, a payment; lot, a portion or share) is a phrase common in the records of
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
medieval
boroughA borough is an administrative division of various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
s, applied to
householderA householder is a person who is the head of a household; see House.Householder is also a family name:*Alston Scott Householder, American mathematician
Mathematical topics named after A.S...
s who were assessed for a tax (such as
tallageTallage or talliage may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a landuse or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon cities, boroughs, and royal domains...
) paid to the borough for local or national purposes.
They were usually members of a
merchant guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
.
Before the
Reform Act 1832The Representation of the People Act 1832, commonly known as the Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of the United Kingdom...
, those who paid scot and bore lot were often entitled to the
franchiseSuffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. It is also called political franchise or simply the franchise. Suffrage may apply to elections, but also extends to initiatives and referendums...
. The expression used today originated from this time period. Members that did not pay their taxes "got off 'scot-free' ".