Are there two Earls of Mar

1 8 Are there Two Earls of Mar?
March 5, 1606, by order of the King, under the Great Seal,
and the Peers were represented by their advocates, for there
was much jealousy and dispute among them.
Each Peer was, by the terms of the Decreet, ranked only
" according to the antiquity of the documents then produced" but
leave was given to obtain higher rank by the subsequent
production of " more ancient documents."
The evidence produced by Lord Mar is still on record. It
proves that he was the heir of Isabel, Countess of Mar in her
own right in 1 404, and holding the old Earldom held by her,
and he was ranked accordingly. *
Q. I can well understand that ; but will you tell me what
rank was then assigned to Lord Kellie's new Mar title, sup-
posed to have been "created in 1565," only forty years before
this decreet ?
A. No RANK AT ALL. I am rather surprised at your
question, for if it had been ranked it would have afforded
proof of its existence, though the exact mode of its " creation "
might not have been explained. Again I tell you it is simply
a fiction founded on a phantom.
Q. Is it not amazing that, in the face of this new Mar title
of 1565 having noplace in the ranking of the Peers in 1606, any
one can assert (with the hope of being believed) that a certain
event took place creating a new title 300 years ago, without
any evidence of any kind to support it, as Lord Chelmsford
admits, and when all the evidence points directly against it ?
A. It is ; and your amazement is shared by thousands.
Why, I would undertake to prove myself Earl of anything, or
say Emperor of China, if I might have the weight of law
given to two unsupported " must-have-beens" and " in some
way or other" by which Lord Kellie's imaginary title has
suddenly appeared, to the confusion of the Scottish Peerage.
Q. Well, [how do their Lordships account for the fact that
Lord Kellie's new Mar title was unknown to the Commissioners
of Ranking in 1606, while the ancient Mar Earldom was
ranked by them as the old one held by the Countess Isabel
in her own right in 1404 ?
A. Their Lordships completely fail to account for this,
* This was pointed out for the guidance of the Committee in 1874 by the Law
Officers on behalf of Her Majesty, after the pleadings in the Mar case were ended.