THY KINGDOM COME: LAW REFORM IN CROMWELLIAN SCOTLAND, C. 1650-1660

Abstract

In July 1650, Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army invaded Scotland, mere months after the execution of Charles I. For the next nine years, Scotland would be controlled by the English state through a mixture of martial law and instruments to effect a long-lasting union. Ultimately, the Cromwellian Union used law reform to provide security for England and to republicanize Scotland, in the hopes of creating a republican British state where God would like to dwell. Through the lens of law reform this thesis examines larger questions of subjecthood, naturalization, and remand to determine how the law can be (and was) used as a tool of conquest. The Cromwellian Union, for a short period of time, created a republican British state, but negatively affected Anglo-Scottish relations, increasing the dislike and distrust between England and Scotland and thereby leaving a negative taste of union in its wake.