Chapter XV: The Burgh
Further, we give and grant to the said provost, bailies, burgesses, and community of the said burgh, a common passage of the breadth of twelve ells on the north side of Saint Ninian's Cross, extending from the said part of the foresaid common lands even to the other part thereof. Having and holding, all and whole, the foresaid burgh of Paisley in a barony, with the tenements, mansions, gardens, acres of land, bounds and limits thereof; assigned by us to them, or to be assigned, with the common pasturage of their animals upon our moss of Paisley, and license in our peatry and quarry aforesaid, as the same lie in length and breadth, to the said provost, bailies, burgesses, and community of the said burgh, and their successors, in feu farm, heritable for ever, by rights hereof used and divided, limited, or to be limited, by us to them, with power of buying and selling in the said burgh, wine, wax, cloth, woollen and linen, crafts or arts, and whatever other goods or merchandise may come thither, with the little customs and tolls, and with all and sundry other liberties, commodities, profits, and easments, and just pertinents whatsoever, belonging, or which may justly be understood hereafter to belong to the said burgh in barony, with power of choosing and of making burgesses and stallin¬gers according to the customs, laws, and statutes of burghs made thereanent, which burgesses and stallingers, and every one of them, shall, at their entry, swear that they will keep faith to our supreme lord the King, and his successors, the Kings of Scotland; as also to the Stewart of Scotland, his heirs and successors, and to us the Abbot and Convent, and our successors, and to the said bailies and community and common utility of the said burgh, in the same manner as burgesses in other burghs do or have been in use to do. Moreover, we give and grant to the provost and bailies of the said burgh chosen by us, and their successors for the time being, full power of holding, convening, and fencing burgh courts of the said burgh, and of continuing the same as often as shall be needful, of levying the issues and amerciaments of the said courts, of fining absentees, of punishing transgressors and delinquents according to the statutes and laws of the burgh, and of choosing sergeants, officers, ministers, tasters of ale and wine, and appreciators of flesh, and other servants whomsoever necessary for a burgh, as is statute and ordained in other burghs, according to the strength, form, and tenor so far as concerns the extension of the foresaid liberties, as is at length contained in the charter of the said burgh in barony and privileges thereof, granted by our sovereign lord the King to us and our successors. Further, we give and grant to the bailies of the said burgh, to be chosen by us and our successors, full power and faculty of taking and receiving resignations of all and sundry lands, acres, and tenements lying within the burgh, and to give and deliver heritable state and seisin as is the use in burghs, to the wives of the possessors, or their true heirs, provided they give seisin to no other person, neither receive resignations without our consent and assent obtained thereto. We will also that the said provost and bailies of the said burgh be annually chosen by advice of us and our successors at the term and court limited by law within burghs, and that they shall be deprived as oft and often as need be, without any hindrance whatsoever. And further, we will and grant that the said provost, bailies, burgesses, and community of the said burgh, shall for ever have for the sustaining the common purse and good of the said burgh the fines of all the burgesses and stallingers of the said burgh, to be made in all time coming with the little customs and tolls of the said burgh, as is the custom in other burghs. Rendering yearly the said provost, bailies, burgesses, and community of the said burgh, to us and our successors furth of the said tenements, mansions, gardens, and acres of land within the limits of the burgh before written, the burghal farm and service of court used and wont, with the yearly rents then owing according to the tenor of our rental and register, and is at more length contained in our Charters of the feu farm tacks of the same tenements, mansions, gardens, and acres ; and that the said provost, bailies, burgesses, and community of the said burgh and their successors shall come with their grain, whatsoever quality they may grind to our miln of Paisley, and to no other mill whatever, paying to us multure to the thirty-one dish, as men abiding forth of our lands; also, for all other burden, exaction, demand, or secular service which can justly be demanded or required from the said burgh in barony, tenements, mansions, gardens, and acres lying within the said burgh, with all their pertinents whatsoever. In witness whereof the common seal of the chapter of the said Monastery is appended to this indented charter, remaining with the said provost, bailies, burgesses, and community of the said burgh, and the common seal of the said burgh of Paisley is appended to the said indented charter, remaining with the said Abbot and Convent. At the Monastery, and for said burgh, the second day of June, 1490. Before these witnesses, namely:—James Schaw de Sawchy, David Schaw, his son ; Thomas Stewart of Craginfeoch, Robert Sympill, John Ralston of that Ilk, John Schaw, Sir Alexander Clugston and James Young, notaries public, with many others.