Scottish historians have remained largely silent on rape, particularly in the nineteenth century. This study uses criminal precognitions, indictments, and court records found in the AD6, AD14, JC4, and JC26 series of documents in the National Archives of Scotland to analyze rape in nineteenth-century Scotland for the first time. Throughout this period, Scottish rape law remained unchanged. The law defined rape as carnal knowledge of a woman by force and against her will and prescribed death as the punishment for this crime. Even though the law remained the same, only two men hanged for rape in years ranging from 1830-1860. Prosecution rates for rape remained high in the middle of the century, but conviction rates remained low as juries were reluctant to convict men of rape and instead convicted men of lesser charges to avoid the harsh penalty of death. The sources examined also reveal that most victims were under the age of 12 and their attackers were between the ages of 20-29. The law defined the rape of young girls as particularly heinous, yet no man hanged for raping them. The law also offered protection to prostitutes, yet these women are absent from legal records. Institutional writers also extensively commented on the use of stupefying agents to purposefully drug a woman to overcome her will. Only two rape cases involved purposeful intoxication and they were never prosecuted because the perpetrators fled from justice. The lack of hangings and presence of elements extensively commented on in legal sources demonstrates contradictions within the Scottish legal system. This study examines these disparities to demonstrate how the “law in books” differed from the “law in action” during rape proceedings in nineteenth-century Scotland. This study is the first study to examine rape law and proceedings as well as the victims, perpetrators, and spaces of rape itself.