The work consists largely of copies and abstracts of charters and other formal documents relating to the Stewartry and Principality of Scotland (folio 7), the Duchy of Cornwall (folio 57), the Principality of Wales and the Earldom of Chester (folio 60), the Duchy of Normandy (folio 62 verso) and the Dauphine of France (folio 62 verso), preceded by a summary of the contents (folio 2), and followed by a conclusion (folio 65 verso), an appendix (folio 66 verso), a copy (folio 75 verso) of an act of Parliament in the collection of Sir Ludovick Stewart in the Advocates` Library (now Adv.MS.34.2.16), apparently found by Walter Goodall, a copy of whose attestation is at folio 79, copies of two other charters (folio 79) and an abstract of other, related, royal charters made by William Smith, clerk to His Majesty`s Chancery (folio 80 verso), a copy of whose attestation is at folio 87.
Apart from the act of Parliament in Stewart`s collection, all the documents copied or summarized are in the public records. The appendix is a copy of a `Memorial concerning the principality of Scotland`, which, with the act of Parliament, was printed, presumably from the text at MS.204, folio 1, by James Carmichael in ‘Various tracts concerning the peerage of Scotland’, pages 105-124, who states that it was written by George Chalmers, Writer to the Signet, in 1752. It is not known who, if not Chalmers, was responsible for the rest of the work.
