The Anglo-Scots Monetary Union of 1707

30 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2018

See all articles by David Fox

David Fox

School of Law, University of Edinburgh

Date Written: July 13, 2018

Abstract

This article analyses the 1707 monetary union between England and Scotland, seen from a legal historical perspective. The task requires a contextual interpretation of Article XVI of the Treaty of Union but, more especially, a fine analysis of the accounting and administrative documents that implemented the union as a numismatic process. Only when these are understood do the questions of private law emerge from the interstices.

The article adds to the emerging literature on the economic history of monetary integration. One theme in the literature is the inter-relationship between political and monetary union. Political union drives monetary union but states that seek to preserve their political autonomy may accept some measure of monetary integration between themselves to facilitate trade relations. Strange as it may now seem, the monetary union of 1707 seemed relatively uncontentious in Scotland at the time. The reason may be that it was incidental to the bigger and more difficult question of political union between the two kingdoms. Unlike the formation of the euro-area nearly 300 years later it did not involve the cession of monetary sovereignty by states that, notionally at least, remained politically sovereign. The main effect of the union was simply to rebase the monetary standard of the currency in Scotland with the currency in England. That had been the goal of the Scottish monetary authorities since 1604, after the regnal union established by James VI/I. In one sense, the union simply restored the long-established status quo.

Keywords: Treaty of Union 1706, Monetary union of England and Scotland, Monetary law, Legal history, Monetary history, Economic history

Suggested Citation

Fox, David, The Anglo-Scots Monetary Union of 1707 (July 13, 2018). Edinburgh School of Law Research Paper No. 2018/24, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3213295 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3213295

David Fox (Contact Author)

School of Law, University of Edinburgh ( email )

Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh, EH8 9YL
United Kingdom

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
75
Abstract Views
546
Rank
501,640
PlumX Metrics