You might be mistaken for thinking that getting off “scot free” had its origins in the stereotypically frugal nation of Scotland. You’d be wrong though as the phrase has nothing to do with the Scots nation or stereotypes.

You might also be mistaken by another urban legend, that being the story of black slave, Dred Scott and his ventures at securing his freedom from slavery from the Blow family through the American supreme court in 1857. Once again, you’d be wrong.

So where does “Scot free” really originate? A scot is a Scandinavian word for tax or payment. It came to the UK as a form of redistributive taxation which was levied as early the 13th century as a form of municipal poor relief.

The term is a contraction of 'scot and lot'. Scot was the tax and lot, or allotment, was the share given to the poor. Scot as a term for tax has been used since then to mean many different types of tax. Whatever the tax, the phrase 'scot free' just refers to not paying one's taxes.