From the 11th century onwards, Scottish kings increasingly favored the feudal system as a method of ruling and controlling the kingdom. These baronies were supervised by lords known as barons, whose function included ensuring that the king's laws operated within the baronies, collecting taxes, maintaining a Barony Court where local justice was administered, and providing the king with knights and men when required.

For this work, Mr. Dobson has traced the origin and line of descent of nearly 1,000 Scottish baronies and baronetcies, including some whose progeny eventually moved to the Americas. Mr. Dobson's principal source was the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland from about 1320. The work incudes a list of sources and an appendix of scots-Irish baronetcies established in Ireland and in the Americas.