By studying the development and dissemination of the different law compilations and their manuscript copies in the first chapter, it was established that no single sea law compilation was available throughout northern Europe at any time during the Middle Ages. In this chapter, this will be investigated further by considering the manuscript collections of each of the five towns in order to determine which sea laws were at the courts' disposal and from what date. A comparison of the urban collections will allow us to establish whether there was any communality in these and, if not, to explain why they were different.

Aberdeen (Scotland)

The Scottish translations of the Rôles d'Oléron

None of the manuscripts containing any of the Scottish translations of the Rôles d'Oléron can be linked to Aberdeen directly. The relatively unified character of Scottish burghal law suggests, however, that those laws available in manuscript form in one burgh would have been known elsewhere too, either in writing or orally, and there is no reason why a collection of Scottish laws should not have been available to the Aberdeen government and courts. A description of the extant manuscripts from the whole of Scotland and the texts they contain is therefore relevant, especially because these text have received little attention from scholars up until now.