Neuer on Sonday

Perhaps what the England of Christine Keeler and Stephen Ward needs is a touch of old Scotland. Judging by the archaic language of the Scottish Bigamy Act (1551), few offenders are more frowned upon than "thame that maryis twa sindrie wyfis or husbandis levand togiddir undervorsit [undivorced]." Under the act, punishment of such culprits is fixed at "confiscatioun of all theair gudis mouabill of their persounis for yeir and day." Also, they may "neuer habill to bruke [never again bear] office of honour, dignitie nor benefice."

As it happens, this harsh treatment has not been meted out for monny a year lang syne, but the Scots' ancient law is still on the books. Last week, along with 166 other cobwebbed statutes adopted by the Scottish kingdom before it joined England in 1707, the law was being repealed in the British Parliament.

For all their moral granite, the Scots clearly had their problems. A 1661 statute, designed to curb rebellious youth, decreed that any "sonne or daughter above age of sextein yeers not being distracted [demented] shall beate or curse their father or mother shall be put to death without mercy." On the other hand, the loss of some of the old laws might be said, from a dour point of view, to contribute to modern decadence. Among them: repeal of a prohibition (1579) against "gamyng and playing, passing to tavernis and ail-houses and wilfull remaning fra [away from] the paroche kirk in tyme of ser-mone or prayers on Sonday."

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