SCOTALES were meetings formerly held in England for the purpose of drinking ale, of which the expense was paid by joint contribution. Thus the tenants of South Malling, in Sussex, which belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury, were, at the keeping of a court, to entertain the lord or his bailiff with a drinking, or an ale; and the stated quotas towards the charge were, that a man should pay threepence halfpenny for himself and his wife, and a widow and cottager a penny halfpenny. In the manor of Ferring, in the same county, and under the same jurisdiction, it was the custom for the tenants named to make a scotale of sixteen pence halfpenny, and to allow out of each sixpence a penny halfpenny for the bailiff.
Common scotales in taverns, at which the clergy were not to be present, are noticed in several ecclesiastical canons. They were not to be published in the church by the clergy or the laity; and a meeting of more than ten persons of the same parish or vicinage was a scotale that was generally prohibited. There were also common drinkings, which were denominated leet-ale, bride-ale, clerk-ale, and church-ale. To a leet-ale probably all the residents in a manorial district were contributors; and the expense of a bride-ale was defrayed by the relations and friends of a happy pair, who were not in circumstances to bear the charges of a wedding dinner. This custom prevails occasionally in some districts of Scotland even at this day, under the denomination of a penny bride-ale, and was very common about half a century ago. The clerk's-ale was in the Easter holidays, and was the method taken to enable clerks of parishes to collect their dues more readily.