It is difficult to believe that the commissioners from Scotland were free agents in this Parliament. But it suited the purposes of Edward that the ordinance which was now to be framed for the future government of Scotland should be promulgated as the result of deliberations in which the people of Scotland had a voice. It was for this reason that the Scotsmen had been summoned to Westminster; but the ordinance left all real power in the hands of Edward. Sir John de Bretaigne, the king’s nephew, became Warden of Scotland, with a Chancellor and Controller under him.[3] Eight justiciars were appointed. Six of them were to administer law in the lowlands; and the dangerous duty of executing justice “beyond the mountains” was entrusted to Sir Reynaud le Chien and Sir John de Vaux of Northumberland. Sheriffs were appointed, most of whom were Scotsmen; but the castles were left in the hands of English commanders. The laws of King David of Scotland were to be read at public meetings in various places, and such of these laws as appeared unjust were to be amended.[4] About this time Edward writes to the Sheriff of York, giving orders that nobles, prelates, and other people of Scotland journeying to and from England, were, in future, to be courteously treated, and that anyone who used threats or bad language to them, or who refused to sell them food, was to be punished. Similar orders regarding the treatment of Scotsmen in England were sent to the Sheriffs of London, and many of the English counties. Edward perhaps thought that by this semblance of an union, founded on conquest and set forth on parchment, his long-cherished schemes were at last accomplished. But his plans had hardly been completed, when he found himself confronted by that combination of the Scottish people which, during the reign of his son, triumphed under the leadership of Robert Bruce, and finally secured the complete independence of Scotland on the field of Bannockburn.