Unto the Right Honourable The Lords of Council and Session, The Petition of The Trustees for the Creditors of John Lowis of Merchistoun.

Notes

A petition on behalf of the the trustees for the creditors of John Lowis of Merchistoun (1681-c.1754), who had wasted a substantial inheritance and fallen into bankruptcy, against the notorious rake, rapist, and gambler Colonel Francis Charteris (1675-1732), who claimed preference in settlement for his debts. The trustees allege that Charteris, who had amassed a considerable fortune through gambling and the South Sea Bubble, and had recently been pardoned (possibly through bribery) following a sensational trial and conviction for rape, had won a small bill from Lowis in gaming, and then through usury, extortion, and blackmail, raised the sum to nearly £6,000 (over a million pounds in modern money), but never claimed any payment until the bankruptcy was declared, rendering the debt null under the Bankruptcy Act of 1696. The Colonel died during the case and it proceeded against his heirs, being appealed back and forth up to the Lords, who eventually decided in favour of the trustees. ESTC records a petition against Lowis during his bankruptcy in 1729, and several documents of the case against Charteris being appealed, but has no record of this initiating action.