Act Sederunt of the Session
Act Sederunt of the Session - meaning Summary
Court Satire in Edinburgh
Burns' Act Sederunt of the Session satirically treats a mock legal decree from Edinburgh's Court of Session that criminalizes forward men. The poem imagines a formal act declaring standing pr-cks
guilty and prescribes dungeons that each woman may use to confine offenders until they repent. Its repeated legal phrasing lampoons courtroom authority by applying solemn procedure to sexual misbehavior, turning judicial seriousness into comic enforcement of private manners. The poem exposes and ridicules both official pomposity and social anxieties around courtship.
In Edinburgh town they've made a law, In Edinburgh at the Court o' Session That standing pr-cks are fauteors a', And guilty of a high transgression. Act Sederunt o' the Session, Decreet o' the Court o' Session, That standing pr-cks are fauteors a', And guilty of a high transgression. And they've provided dungeons deep. Ilk lass has ane in her possession; Untill the wretches wail and weep, They there shall lie for their transgression. Act Sederunt o' the Session, Decreet o' the Court o' Session, The rogues in pouring tears shall weep, By act Sederunt o' the Session.
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