Legal Definitions - leasing-making

Leasing-making was a historical crime under Scots law, referring to the act of spreading spoken words intended to create discord, disloyalty, or rebellion against the monarch or the government.

Essentially, it was the offense of orally inciting sedition, often by spreading false rumors or inflammatory statements that could turn people against the ruling power.

• Example 1: Imagine a villager in 17th-century Scotland loudly proclaiming in the town square that the King is secretly plotting to seize all common lands for his personal hunting grounds, urging others to resist any royal decree. This statement, if proven to be false and intended to incite unrest against the monarch's authority, would constitute leasing-making.

• Example 2: Consider a disgruntled noble at a gathering of other lords, subtly but persistently whispering that the Queen is unfit to rule due to her foreign advisors and that she intends to undermine the traditional rights of the Scottish aristocracy. If these spoken words were designed to sow distrust among the nobility and encourage them to challenge the Queen's authority, it would fall under the definition of leasing-making.

• Example 3: During a period of political tension, a local preacher delivers a sermon where he strongly implies that the current government ministers are corrupt and are deliberately impoverishing the populace, encouraging his congregation to openly defy their edicts. Such an oral address, if it was found to be spreading disaffection and inciting resistance against the established government, would be an instance of leasing-making.