Burgh
A Burgh is an autonomous corporate entity, for ordinar a toun, an haes been in uiss in Scotland syne the 12t century. Recogneetion o burgh status houaniver haes little mair nor ceremonial vailie.
The heid o a burgh is cried a Provost. Maist ryal burghs hauds the teetle for ceremonial purposes, wi the merkit exception o the Scots ceeties.
Burghs haed richts tae representation in the Pairlament o Scotland. Unner the Acts o Union 1707 mony becam pairliamentary burghs, representit in the Pairliament o Great Breetain.
Unner the Reform Act o 1832, 32 year efter the mellin o the Pairliament o Great Breetain intae the Pairliament o the Unitit Kinrick, the burgh boonds for pariliamentary elections wisna necessar their boonds for ither purposes.
Whan Scots coonty councils wis shaped unner the Local Government (Scotland) Act o 1889 burghs wis awreadies important in the local government o Scotland. Coonty cooncils an burgh cooncils wis baith abolished unner the Local Government (Scotland) Act o 1973, that shaped a new seestem o regions an destricts an island cooncil areas.
Kynds o Burgh
eeditThere's a wheen kynds o burgh:
Etymology
eeditAs uised in this airticle, the wird burgh refers tae corporate entities that's legality is peculiar tae Scotland. (Scots law wis pertectit an uphauden as distinct fae the laws of Ingland under the Acts of Union o 1707.
The wird haes cognates, or near cognates, in ither Germanic leids. For example, burg in German, an borg in baith Dens an Swadish; the equeevalent wird can be fund in Frisie, Dutch, Norse, an Icelandic.
The wird burgh comes fae the Auld Inglis wird burh (wi dialect variants includin broch). The Anglo-Saxon wird wis oreeginally uised for a fortifee'd toun an wis sib wi the verb beorgan (cf. Dutch an German bergen), meanin "tae haud, sauf, mak siccar". In German, Burg means castle, tho sae mony touns growed up aboot castles that it near haund cam tae mean ceety, an is incorporate intae mony placenames, sic as Hamburgh an Strasburgh).