Why do Scotland issue their own bank notes?

mooseman93

Why don't you use proper grammer? Jul 13 05, 2:34 PM

lanfranco

And you might learn how to spell, moose. As best I can tell, author, this is a matter of asserting some independence -- and as an American of Scottish ancestry, I am entirely sympathetic. Interestingly, according to this site, the Bank of England attempted, in the early 19th century, to prevent the Bank of Scotland from printing small-denomination (i.e., one pound) notes. Sir Walter Scott mounted a newspaper campaign that generated such outrage that the B of E was forced to relent. Sir Walter now appears on all B of S notes. While these notes are not considered to be "legal tender," anyone in the U.K. is apparently free to accept them. This raises some questions that a British player, well-versed in U.K. currency matters, can surely discuss much better than I can. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Scotland Jul 13 05, 3:46 PM

H0T-Lead

Firstly: it's "grammar" not "grammer" Secondly: It has nothing to do with indepence as such. Scotland is a country in its own right and English law has no validity north of the border. While the Bank of England is the sole possessor in England of a royal patent to print and mint money, no such monopoloy exists in Scotland. There are 3 banks in Scotland with a minting patent: The Bank of Scotland (Now merged with the Halifax Bank), The Royal Bank of Scotland, and the Clydesdale Bank. The furore that Sir Walter Scott raised dealt specifically with a real attempt by the Bank of England to usurp authority where it had no claim. As he was a Sherriff at the time, his criticsm -- on purely legal grounds -- had to be heeded by parliament who forced the bank to back down. NB: in Scotland a Sherriff is roughly equal to a US district judge and his motion had the affect and power of a judicial writ or injunction against the Bank of England which was, for the purposes of its activities north of the border, subject to Scottish law. One other thing, the Bank of England itself had, until the late 1980's, it's own 1 pound note. Scotland still has them and they are still netogtiable money though they are no longer being printed. One last point: no money printed or minted in Great Britain (Consisting of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) has on it anywhere the words "legal tender." The word tender is only used in this context in the USA. We in Scotland consider this usage of the word to be poor grammar. Jul 14 05, 5:10 AM

author

Bad typo there, I admit... However, since also Wales and Northern Ireland are "countries in their own right" as well as Scotland, why don't they print their own bank notes? I am also aware that Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man print their own bank notes. What is the point of this? Jul 15 05, 4:55 AM

H0T-Lead

Quick point to make: While I said that Scotland is a country in its own right, I did not say that Northern Ireland and Wales are. In fact, while Northern Ireland and Eire were conjoined and subject to the British Crown, the Bank of Ireland did print its own notes. I believe that after Eire split from the UK in the early 1900's, Northern Ireland lost its status as a kingdom and is now considered a Territory within the British Commonwealth. Wales, rather than being a country, is a British Principality. Neither Gurnsey, nor the Isle of Man are subject to the British Crown and are politically independent from the UK - this applies to Jersey as well. Jul 15 05, 6:52 AM

bloomsby

Oops. Some banks in Northern Ireland do issue their own notes. For most purposes England and Wales are one jurisdiction: hence the fact that there are no Welsh banknotes. Many English and Welsh banks issued their own notes until well into the 19th century. The Channel Islands are crown dependencies. As for the absence of words "legal tender" from UK notes, it's the US that is the odd one out here and there's a reason for it. From illustrations I've seen, very high denomination notes have a statement (in the place where one would expect to find the usual statement about legal tender) to the effect that the notes are valid for transfers between banks in the Federal Reserve System. Jul 16 05, 1:53 PM