Parliament of Scotland

The Parliament of Scotland (Scots: Pairlament o Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba), also known as the Estates of Scotland, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council of bishops and earls, with the first identifiable parliament being held in 1235 during the reign of Alexander II, when it already possessed a political and judicial role.

A unicameral institution, for most of its existence the Parliament consisted of the three estates of clergy, nobility, and the burghs. By the 1690s it comprised the nobility, the shires, the burghs, and various officers of state. Parliament gave consent for the raising of taxation and played an important role in the administration of justice, foreign policy, war, and the passing of a broad range of legislation. Parliamentary business was also carried out by "sister" institutions, such as General Councils or Conventions of Estates, which could both carry out much business dealt with by parliament, but lacked the powers and ultimate authority of a full parliament.

The Parliament of Scotland was dissolved in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England. With the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 May 1707, the parliaments of Scotland and England were succeeded by the new Parliament of Great Britain. Under the Acts of Union 1800, the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland merged to become the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Long portrayed as a constitutionally defective body that acted merely as a rubber stamp for royal decisions, modern research has found that the Parliament of Scotland played an active role in Scottish affairs. In the 15th and early 16th centuries Parliament was a powerful counter-weight to the power of the Stewart kings. Parliament provided counsel and aid to successive monarchs, while also successfully opposing unpopular royal policies.

The members were collectively referred to as the Three Estates (Scots: Thrie Estaitis), or "three communities of the realm" (tres communitates), until 1690 composed of:

The first estate comprised the archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, the bishops of Aberdeen, Argyll, Brechin, Caithness, Dunblane, Dunkeld, Galloway, Isles, Moray, Orkney and Ross and, at different periods, various abbots, priors, archdeacons, and deans. After the reformation in 1559, ecclesiastical representation continued in parliament, with the archbishop of St Andrews and the bishops of Dunblane and Dunkeld providing a Catholic clerical presence until April 1567, alongside the Protestant bishops of Galloway, Orkney and Moray. Thereafter, only Protestant archbishops and bishops were allowed to sit in parliament, alongside those representing abbeys and priories. The clerical estate was abolished between 1639 and 1662, and then again from 1689 when bishops themselves were removed from the Church of Scotland, as a result of the Glorious Revolution and the accession of William II. When no members of the First Estate remained, the Second Estate was then split, to retain the division into three.

From the 16th century, the second estate was reorganised by the selection of Shire Commissioners: this has been argued to have created a fourth estate. During the 17th century, after the Union of the Crowns, a fifth estate of officers of state (see Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland) has also been identified. These latter identifications remain highly controversial among parliamentary historians. Regardless, the term used for the assembled members continued to be "the Three Estates".

A Shire Commissioner was the closest equivalent of the office of Member of Parliament in the Parliament of England of the time, namely a commoner or member of the lower nobility. Because the parliament of Scotland was unicameral, all members sat in the same chamber, in contrast to the separate English House of Lords and House of Commons.