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. Robert Seton, 2nd Earl of Winton appears to have been omitted.