There is no record of construction on the site but, on 3 October 1403, the earliest burgh record mentions the "Pretorio burgi" - the Pretorium of Edinburgh - for the first time. On 27 November 1438, during the reign of James II, the Estates of Parliament made its first use of the pretorio burgi of Edinburgh. Parliamentary records of 28 June 1451, by which time records were made in Scots, see the first official use of the term tolbooth (or, strictly, tolbuith)
