[681] _Register of the Scottish Privy Council_, Vol. XIII., p. XXIX. The replies of the Scotch justices to this order bring out the difference which existed between England and Scotland in law, opinions and practice and the consequent difficulty in enforcing in Scotland a thorough organisation of poor relief. Thus the justices of Haddington and Lothian write that in regard to the tax which was ordered by the Council for apprehending and keeping of idle beggars they "doutt if ane simple proclamatioun be ane sufficient warrand unto us to sett doun stent upoun every man"; with regard to the relief of the poor they thought the general contribution beneficial, but "becaus every contributioun is odious and smellis of ane taxatioun they could not undertak how to proceid thairin, being ane matter beyond thair capacitie[682]." The justices of Edinburgh reply that "thair is no jaillis nor warding plaices within the parochins nor touns of this sherefdome that is able to conteine a tent pairt of the pure beging in the same," order was therefore given in Edinburgh that every landed gentleman should sustain his own poor, and that the ministers should exhort their parishioners to refrain from giving alms to the able-bodied beggars[683]. Other justices arrange meetings to discuss the best means of relieving the destitution which existed; they nearly all report that it is best for the kirk sessions to "stent" their own parishioners, and for each landlord to support the poor on his estate[684]. [682] _Register of the Scottish Privy Council_, p. 836. [683] _Ib._, p. 818. [684] e.g. Linlithgow, _Ib._, p. 840. The justices of Perthshire however said every poor person was to have a peck of meal weekly, and that the heritors were to pay for it "conforme to the stent roll to be sett doun be the sessioun of the paroche kirk." _Ib._, p. 820. See also pp. 826, 832, &c. Again in 1631 and 1632 there are signs of greater care for the poor in Scotland, and this may be due to the action of the Council, but in Scotland it seems clear that the justices left the administration almost entirely in the hands of the kirk sessions, and that the kirk sessions were not induced to enforce an adequate system of poor relief for a long term of years. Consequently Scottish poor relief remained in the seventeenth century in much the same condition as it had been in both England and Scotland in the preceding period. [Sidenote: 7 _b_. Inadequate relief given by the kirk sessions of Banff.] In Scotland, as in both countries before 1597, assistance was given to the poor by the parochial officials, and the money was raised by collections at the church doors.