Anglo-Scottish border: Difference between revisions

▲{{short description|96-mile long border between England and Scotland}}

▲The '''Anglo-Scottish border''' ({{Lang-gd|Crìochan Anglo-Albannach}}) is a [[border]] separating [[Scotland]] and [[England]] which runs for <span style="white-space:nowrap">96&nbsp;miles (154&nbsp;km)</span> between [[Marshall Meadows Bay]] on the east coast and the [[Solway Firth]] in the west.

▲The [[Firth of Forth]] was the border between the [[Picts|Picto]]-[[Gaels|Gaelic]] [[Kingdom of Alba]] and the [[Angles|Anglian]] [[Kingdom of Northumbria]] in the early 10th century. It became the first Anglo-Scottish border with the [[History of Anglo-Saxon England#English unification (10th century)|annexation]] of Northumbria by [[Anglo-Saxon England]] in the mid-10th century. In 973, [[Kenneth II of Scotland|Kenneth, King of Scots]] attended the English king, [[Edgar the Peaceful]], at [[King Edgar's council at Chester|his council in Chester]]. After Kenneth had reportedly done homage, Edgar rewarded Kenneth by granting him [[Lothian]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rollason |first=David W. |author-link=David Rollason |title=Northumbria, 500 – 1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521813352 |page=275}}</ref> Despite this transaction, the control of [[Lothian#Lothian under the control of the Angles|Lothian]] was not finally settled and the region was taken by the Scots at the [[Battle of Carham]] in 1018 and the [[River Tweed]] became the ''[[de facto]]'' Anglo-Scottish border. The Solway–Tweed line was legally established in 1237 by the [[Treaty of York]] between England and Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|title=Scotland Conquered, 1174-1296|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/utk/scotland/conquered.htm|publisher=The National Archives|access-date=19 May 2012}}</ref> It remains the border today, with the exception of the [[Debatable Lands]], north of [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]], and a small area around [[Berwick-upon-Tweed]], which was [[Capture of Berwick (1482)|taken by England]] in 1482. Berwick was not fully annexed into England until 1746, by the [[Wales and Berwick Act 1746]].<ref name="BlackstoneStewart1839">{{cite book|last1=Blackstone|first1=William|last2=Stewart|first2=James|title=The rights of persons, according to the text of Blackstone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdoDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA92|year=1839|publisher=Edmund Spettigue|page=92}}</ref>

▲For centuries until the [[Union of the Crowns]] the region on either side of the boundary was a lawless territory suffering from the repeated raids in each direction of the [[Border Reivers]]. Following the [[Treaty of Union 1706]], ratified by the [[Acts of Union 1707]], which united Scotland with [[England and Wales]] to form the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], the Border forms the boundary of the two legal [[jurisdiction (area)|systems]] as the treaty between Scotland and England guaranteed the continued separation of [[English law]] and [[Scots law]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Collier|first=J.G.|title=Conflict of Laws|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-78260-0|pages=6|url=http://assets.cambridge.org/052178/2600/sample/0521782600ws.pdf|quote=For the purposes of the English [[conflict of laws]], every country in the world which is not part of [[England and Wales]] is a foreign country and its foreign laws. This means that not only totally foreign independent countries such as France and [[Russia]]... are foreign countries but also [[British Overseas Territories|British Colonies]] such as the [[Falkland Islands]]. Moreover, the other parts of the United Kingdom—Scotland and Northern Ireland—are foreign countries for present purposes, as are the other [[British Islands]], the [[Isle of Man]], [[Jersey]], and [[Guernsey]].}}</ref> The [[age of marriage]] under [[Scots law]] is 16, while it is 18 under [[English law]]. The border settlements of [[Gretna Green]] to the west, and [[Coldstream]] and [[Lamberton, Berwickshire|Lamberton]] to the east, were convenient for [[elope]]rs from England who wanted to marry under Scottish laws, and marry without publicity.