# Decreet of Ranking of 1606

The Decreet of Ranking of 5 March 1606 determined the relative precedence of members of the peerage of Scotland.

## Background

The increasing number of disputes between peers as to the order in which they ranked and voted in Parliament and in councils caused King James VI and his Privy Council to appoint Lords Commissioners to determine each peer's rank and place. The peers or their representatives were invited to provide evidence to support their claims. The resultant "decreet" was registered in the books of the Privy Council and passed to the Lord Clerk Register and the Lord Lyon, to be used to determine precedence on all future occasions. Peers who felt themselves disadvantaged had the right to present new evidence before the Lords of Council and Session for a "reduction" to the Decreet of Ranking, but were otherwise bound by it.

## List of the peers of Scotland on 5 March 1606, by rank

* Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox
* James Hamilton, 2nd Marquis of Hamilton
* George Gordon, 1st Marquis of Huntly
* William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus
* Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll
* David Lindsay, 11th Earl of Crawford
* Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll
* George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal
* Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland
* John Erskine, 19th Earl of Mar
* Andrew Leslie, 5th Earl of Rothes
* William Douglas, 6th Earl of Morton
* William Graham, 7th Earl of Menteith
* Hugh Montgomerie, 5th Earl of Eglinton
* John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose
* John Kennedy, 5th Earl of Cassilis
* George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness
* James Cunningham, 7th Earl of Glencairn
* Mary Douglas, 6th Countess of Buchan
* James Stewart, 3rd Earl of Moray
* Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney
* James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl
* Alexander Livingston, 1st Earl of Linlithgow
* Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home
* James Drummond, 1st Earl of Perth
* Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline
* George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar
* John Lindsay, 8th Lord Lindsay
* John Forbes, 8th Lord Forbes
* Patrick Lyon, 9th Lord Glamis
* John Fleming, 6th Lord Fleming
* John Abernethy, 8th Lord Saltoun
* Patrick Gray, 5th Lord Gray
* Andrew Stuart, 3rd Lord Stuart of Ochiltree
* Alan Cathcart, 4th Lord Cathcart
* James Douglas, 6th Lord Carlyle
* Robert Crichton, 8th Lord Crichton of Sanquhar
* James Hay, 7th Lord Hay of Yester
* Robert Sempill, 4th Lord Sempill
* James Sinclair, 7th Lord Sinclair
* John Maxwell, 6th Lord Herries of Terregles
* Alexander Elphinstone, 4th Lord Elphinstone
* John Maxwell, 9th Lord Maxwell
* Laurence Oliphant, 5th Lord Oliphant
* Simon Fraser, 6th Lord Lovat
* James Ogilvy, 5th Lord Ogilvy
* John Borthwick, 8th Lord Borthwick
* James Ross, 6th Lord Ross
* Thomas Boyd, 6th Lord Boyd
* James Sandilands, 2nd Lord Torphichen
* Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley
* Mark Kerr, 1st Lord Newbattle
* John Maitland, 2nd Lord Thirlestane
* Alexander Lindsay, 1st Lord Spynie
* Robert Ker, 1st Lord Roxburghe
* Patrick Leslie, 1st Lord Lindores
* Hugh Campbell, 1st Lord Campbell of Loudoun
* Thomas Erskine, 1st Lord Erskine of Dirletoun
* Edward Bruce, 1st Lord Bruce of Kinloss
* James Hamilton, 1st Lord Abercorn
* James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerino
* John Murray, 1st Lord Murray of Tullibardine
* James Colville, 1st Lord Colville of Culross
* David Murray, 1st Lord Scone
Robert Seton, 2nd Earl of Winton appears to have been omitted.

## Subsequent reductions to the decreet of 1606

* In 1606 the Countess of Buchan (then a minor) had been ranked according to a regrant of the Earldom in 1547. In 1628, on an action of the Countess, the Earldom of Buchan was placed according to its original creation in 1469, ahead of the Earls of Eglinton, Montrose, Cassillis, Caithness and Glencairn.
* In 1606 the Earl of Glencairn did not appear, and his precedency was assigned on the earliest evidence then available, from 1503. In 1609 the original charter of 1488 was discovered and in 1610 the Earl brought a successful action which resulted in his being placed above the Earls of Eglinton, Montrose, Cassillis and Caithness. In 1617 the Earl of Eglinton had this judgement overturned on a technicality, but Glencairn's successor brought another action in 1637 and his Earldom's precedence according to the decreet of 1610 was reinstated in 1648.