FUEL SHORTAGES, arguments over tolls on the Forth and Tay, binge drinking, the credit crunch and the ever touchy subject of MPs’ expenses are nothing new—Scottish politicians were fighting about these topics as far back as the 13th century.

The details have been released in a major new £1 million parliamentary record created over 11 years by researchers from St Andrews University in a project described as being of “unprecedented scale and complexity.”

The result of the efforts by the school of history and over 30 academics and specialists in their fields is a fully searchable digital database of the proceedings of the Scottish Parliament, from its first surviving act of 1235 to its dissolution by the Act of Union of 1707.

Now the publication online of the Records of the Parliaments of Scotland (RPS) to 1707 makes freely available almost 500 years of Scottish parliamentary history, and helps overturn the long-held dismissive view that the parliament was a weak and ineffective institution.

RPS is the fullest record ever available of the institution that made laws that impinged on each person’s daily life and lay at the heart of the nation for nearly 500 years.

It helps explain why Scotland has distinct legal, religious and educational systems.

The project team was led by Professor Keith Brown, who said yesterday that the project presents the records of the Scottish Parliament in a format that is amongst the most technologically advanced and most user-friendly of any historical record yet published.

He said that, for students, scholars and anyone interested in Scotland’s past, the resource offers an immediately accessible entry into one of the country’s richest historical sources.

“From its origins in the 13th century to its termination in the 18th century, Scotland’s Parliament represented a political legitimacy that could not be ignored.

“Furthermore, far from being a rudimentary institution, parliament evolved rituals, procedures and a level of self-conscious awareness on a par with any other representative body of that age.

“Scotland has every reason to be proud of its lengthy parliamentary history and the record the institution left behind.

“It is with great interest that we await to see what new research is created by the users of the resource produced by the project.”

The record reveals that an act passed by parliament in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots records a “most exorbitant dearth and scantness of fuel” within Scotland, and that the question of ferry tolls over the Forth and Tay exercised MPs in the 15th century.

Profiteering by ferrymen on these key routes led to an act setting tolls at a maximum of 12 Scots pennies for each man and accompanying horse (88p in today’s money) and six pennies (44p) for each individual traveller.

Many other parallels with present-day issues are revealed, with acts from as far back as 1428 legislating on the thorny topic of MPs’ allowances.

Other details show that:

* Members could be fined up to £200 Scots (£6000 in today’s money) for “inappropriate attire” in the chamber.

* Scotland suffered a credit crunch in the 16th century, forcing parliament to legislate to control loan sharks.

* Environmental concerns were frequently the centre of debate, although the impetus for action by parliament was usually the desire to preserve species for hunting or as food supplies.

* Football and golf were famously outlawed by parliament in the 15th century in order that men of fighting age practised useful skills such as archery.

* Gambling laws were tightened in the 17th century and excessive winnings were to be donated to the poor of the parish.

* Binge drinking was frowned upon when excessive drinkers and “haunters of taverns” were legislated against by a series of acts in the 1600s. Anyone found drinking in a pub after 10pm would be subject to corporal punishment or imprisonment.

RPS is also the largest single record written in the Scots language, providing an unparalleled history of dialect usage from the late 14th century until the early 18th century.

The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 will be formally launched at a reception in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.

The record can be found at www.rps.ac.uk.