example of the Abbot of Kilwinning's court hill near Beith. Three times a year the baron also had the right to clear his lands of evildoers and men of ill repute. The feudal Baron appointed the Officers of a Baron Court. Barons therefore had public law executive and judicial authority over the public affairs of that Barony. The officers were: The Baron-Baillie was the principal administrative officer; the Baillie's insignia of office was a Cap of Justice, a Black legal Robe, and a medal of office on a chain The Baron-Clerk acted as administrative secretary of the Barony. The Dempster or Deemster was responsible for executing the judicial decisions and announced the "doom" as the sentence was called. The Baron-Sergeant kept order, summoned the parties involved and enforced civil decrees of the Court; the Sergeant's insignia of office was a 37" white Ellwand and a Horn to summon attendance. The Procurator Fiscal operated as the civil and criminal prosecutor in matters before the Baron Court. By the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746 the powers of life and death were removed from the Baron Court and the criminal jurisdiction was very significantly reduced but not entirely abolished. The hereditary jurisdictions of Regality Courts and of the Sheriff Courts were abolished and the owners received significant sums in compensation. It can be stated therefore that most moot and gallow hills ceased to have a role in the judicial process at that time. The Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 removed all the remaining aspects of the feudal baronial system, apart from the baronial titles themselves. The entire system whereby land was held by a vassal on perpetual tenure from a superior, was, on this appointed day, abolished. Pit and gallows It was enacted at the parliament assembled in Forfar in 1057 by King Malcolm Canmore that every baron should erect a gibbet (gallows) for the execution of male criminals, and sink a well or pit, for the drowning of females. The term pit and gallows described the jurisdiction of a baron in criminal cases; in full 'pit and gallows, sake and soke, toll, team, and infangthief'. Some historians claimed that a pit was a dungeon or prison cell, not a pit for drowning the condemned. Others take the view that the pit was the drowning pit for women. It is not clear why men were more likely to be hanged