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Scot and Lot

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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SCOT AND LOT (0.(0. Fr. escot, A.S. sceot, a payment; lot, a portion or share), a phrase common in the records of English medieval boroughs, applied to those householders who were assessed to any payment (such as tallage, aid, &c.) made by the borough for local or national purposes. They were usually members of a gild merchant. Previous to the Reform Act 1832 those who paid scot and bore lot were entitled to the franchise in virtue of this payment, and the rights of those living in 1832 were preserved by the act. The phrase is preserved in the Disorderly Houses Act 1751, which empowers inhabitants of a parish or place paying scot and bearing lot therein (i.e. ratepayers) to require the constable of the parish to prosecute disorderly houses.

See D. P. Fry, "On the Phrase Scot and Lot," in Trans. Philological Society (1867), pp. 167-197; C. Gross, Gild Merchant, i. c. iv.; Pollock and Maitland, Hist. Eng. Law, p. 647.