In Scotland, by the ancient canons of the Scottish Councils, much more sacredness was attached to the plea of sanctuary, than obtained during this period of English history. Excommunication was there incurred for the offense of taking criminals from sanctuaries and depriving them of the protection of the church. Scottish kings granted charters recognizing broader privileges in certain churches than in others, and many particular ecclesiastical asylums were established in Scotland, by special charters. One of the most celebrated sanctuaries in Scotland was the church of Wedale, now called Stow, for in this church there was an image of the blessed Virgin, believed to have been brought by King Arthur, from Jerusalem. David I., of Scotland, granted the “king’s peace,” in addition to the church’s protection, to those refugees taking sanctuary at the church of Lesmahagow, and it was, for centuries, one of the most prominent sanctuaries of Scotland. One of the most remarkable features of the custom of sanctuary, obtaining in Scotland, was that of the _Clan Macduff_, alleged to have been granted by Malcolm Canmore, on recovering the throne of his ancestors. Any person related within the ninth degree to the Chief of the Clan Macduff, who committed manslaughter, was entitled, when he fled to Macduff’s cross, in Fife, to have his punishment remitted to a fine, or at least to be repledged and exempted from trial in any other jurisdiction, by the Earl of Fife. History records that this privilege of sanctuary, saved the life of Hugh de Arbuthnot and his accomplices, from trial for the murder of John de Melvil of Glenbervie, in the year 1421. The Scotch law of sanctuary was more guarded than the English, in the middle ages, in affording too easy an immunity for crime, but in this country, there existed in most recent times, a sanctuary for debtors in the abbey and palace of Holyrood, with its precincts, including the hill of Arthur’s Seat and the Queen’s Park.[46] The privilege of sanctuary, while it obtained in England and Scotland gave rise to considerable legislation and litigation, to restrain the right within the proper limits and to interpret the laws governing the privilege as it had previously been enjoyed. In 1378 it was ordained that debtors claiming sanctuary with the intent of defrauding their creditors should have their goods and lands levied upon to discharge their debts.[47] In 1487 Pope Innocent VIII. authorized the arrest of persons who left the sanctuary, to commit murder, robbery or other felony, though they sought the sanctuary, the second time, for protection and he ordered at the same time that those inmates of sanctuaries who were guilty of treason should be prevented from leaving the realm.[48] Statutes of the time of Henry VIII. greatly curtailed the privilege of sanctuary. By act of Parliament, passed in the twenty-first year of his reign,[49] it was provided that the culprit: