Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Scots law:
  • noun The matter of charge or ground of indictment against one accused of crime.
  • noun The charge itself; an indictment.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • For this reason the same authority is at a loss to know whether the prisoners were immediately put to the knowledge of an assize, being taken "red-hand," without the formality of being served a "dittay" (as who should say an indictment), as in ordinary cases, before the magistrates of Edinburgh, or else sent for trial before the baron bailie of the regality of Broughton, in whose jurisdiction Warriston was situated.

    She Stands Accused 1935

  • When he appeared at the bar of the house so to speak -- before Parliament -- the following "dittay" or indictment was made against him: --

    Royal Edinburgh Her Saints, Kings, Prophets and Poets George Reid 1862

  • The King, like his representatives, was astonished by the accusation, but when he heard of the terrible "dittay" which had been brought against Hamilton "he came suddenly out of Falkland, where

    Royal Edinburgh Her Saints, Kings, Prophets and Poets George Reid 1862

  • It was John MacRae, locksman of the village of Cranesmuir, who read out the dittay, or indictment, against the persons of one Geillis Duncan and one Claire Fraser, both accused before the Church's court of the crime of witchcraft.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • With the deadly precision of an automated mincing machine, he arranged each charge of the dittay on the slab of his scrutiny and diced it ruthlessly into shreds with the blade of statute and the cleaver of precedent.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • After the reading of the dittay, the witnesses were called.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • The reason for Jean's hatred of her husband appears in the dittay against Robert Weir.

    She Stands Accused 1935

  • I cannot do better at this point than leave description of the murder as it is given in the dittay against Weir.

    She Stands Accused 1935

  • The editor of Pitcairn's Trials remarks in a footnote to the dittay that "the quaintness of the ancient style even aggravates the horror of the scene."

    She Stands Accused 1935

  • In the dittay against John Fian, 1590, he was 'fylit, for the chaissing of ane catt in Tranent; in the quhilk chaise, he was careit heich aboue the ground, with gryt swyftnes, and as lychtlie as the catt hir selff, ower ane heicher dyke, nor he was able to lay his hand to the heid off: — And being inquyrit, to quhat effect he chaissit the samin?

    The Witch-cult in Western Europe A Study in Anthropology Margaret Alice Murray 1913

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