In the north of Scotland there was an association of Free Burghs called the Hanse or Ansus; and the Lord Chamberlain, by his Iter, or circuit of visitation, maintained a common standard of right and duties in all burghs, and examined the state of the “common good,” the accounts of which in 1535 were appointed to be laid before the auditors in Exchequer. The Chamberlain latterly presided in the Curia Quatuor Burgorum (Edinburgh, Berwick, Stirling, Roxburgh), which not only made regulations in trade, but decided questions of private right (e.g., succession), according to the varying customs of burghs. This court frequently met at Haddington; in 1454 it was fixed at Edinburgh. The more modern Convention of Royal Burghs (which appeared as a judicial persona in the Court of Session so late as 1839) probably dates from the Act of James III. (1487, c. 111), which appointed the Commissioners of Burghs, both north and south, to meet yearly at Inverkeithing “to treat of the welfare of merchandize, the good rule and statutes for the common profit of burghs, and to provide for remeid upon the skaith and injuries sustained within the burghs.” Among the more important functions of this body (on whose decrees at one time summary diligence proceeded) were the prohibition of undue exactions within burghs, the revisal of the “set” or mode of municipal election, and the pro rata division among the burghs of the parliamentary subsidy required from the Third Estate. The Convention still meets, but the reform of the municipalities, and the complete representation of the mercantile interests in the United Parliament, have deprived it of importance. In its great days it negotiated a treaty with Campvere, and one of its judgments was given effect to by Edward I. in the Parliament of Newcastle, 1292.
Burghs of Regality and of Barony held in vassalage of some great lordship, lay or ecclesiastical, but were always in theory or in practice created by Crown grant. They received jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, generally cumulative with that of the Baron or the Lord of Regality, who in some cases obtained the right of nominating magistrates. Powers to hold markets and to levy customs were likewise given to these Burghs.
The Scotch burghs emerged slowly into political importance. In 1295 the procurators of six burghs ratified the agreement for the marriage of Edward Balliol; and in 1326 they were recognized as a Third Estate, granting a tenth penny on all rents for the king's life, if he should apply it for the public good. The Commissioners of Burghs received from the Exchequer their costages or expenses of attending Parliament. The burghs were represented in the Judicial Committee, and in the Committee on Articles appointed during the reign of James V. After the Reformation, in spite of the annexation of kirk lands to the Crown, and the increased burdens laid on temporal lands, the proportion of general taxation borne by the burghs (viz., 1s. 6d.) was expressly preserved by Act 1587, c. 112. The number of commissioners, of course, fluctuated from time to time. Cromwell assigned ten members to the Scotch burghs in the second Parliament of Three Nations (1654). The general practice until 1619 had been, apparently, that each burgh should send two members. In that year (by an arrangement with the Convention of Burghs) certain groups of burghs returned one member, Edinburgh returning two. Under Art. 22 of the Treaty of Union the number of members for Royal Burghs was fixed at fifteen, who were elected in Edinburgh by the Magistrates and Town Council, and in the groups of burghs by delegates chosen ad hoc. See Parliament. (See Connel, History of the Constitution of Towns; Stubbs' Constitutional History of England, vol. i.)
BOROUGH-ENGLISH, a custom prevailing in certain ancient boroughs, and in districts attached to them (where the lands are held in socage), and also in certain copyhold manors (chiefly in Surrey and Middlesex), by which in general lands descend to the youngest son, to the exclusion of all the other children, of the person dying seized and intestate. Descent to the youngest brother to the exclusion of all other collaterals, where there is no issue, is sometimes included in the general definition, but this is really a special custom to be proved from the Court-Rolls of the manor and from local reputation,—a custom which is sometimes extended to the youngest sister, uncle, aunt. Generally, however, Borough-English, apart from specialties, may be said to differ from gavel-kind in not including collaterals. It is often found in connection with the distinct custom that the widow shall take as dower the whole and not merely one-third of her husband's lands. (See Third Report of Real Property Commission, and case of Muggleton v. Barnett, 2 Hurls. and Nor. Rep.)
BOROVICHI, a town of Russia, in the government of Novgorod, situated in 58° 23′ N. lat. and 23° 54′ E. long., on both banks of the River Msta. On the site of the present town there existed, from an early date, a settlement famous for the skill of its pilots; and for their encouragement in that occupation the inhabitants were freed from taxation by Peter I. In 1770 the village was raised to the rank of a town, and in 1776 was made the head of a department in the Novgorod government. It contains seven or eight churches and a monastery, an almshouse, and a hospital. Flour, malt, beer, tallow, earthenware, and bricks are all manufactured, but none of them to any great extent. The principal articles of trade are linen, leather, and wood. There are two annual fairs, and a weekly market. Population in 1867, 9108.
BOROVSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Kaluga, 54 miles from that city on the old post road to Moscow, is situated on both banks of the Protva at the confluence of the Tikizh, in 55° 13′ N. lat. and 36° 9′ E. long. The town was in existence in the 13th century, and derived its name from the Borh, or pine forest, which still lies to the N.W. Its principal industries are tanning, soap-boiling, and the manufacture of wax, linseed-oil, and pottery; and it has a trade of considerable importance in grain, hemp, and cloth. There are four annual fairs, two of which are held in the town and two about two miles off, at the monastery of Paphnutius, which was founded in 1444. The population mainly belonging to the Greek Church, was in 1860, 8150.
