Topic summary
scot-free
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Scot and lot.
In Norman times, under the influence of the word escot, in Old French, the vowel changed, and the term became scot. In 19th century Kent and Sussex, low-lying farmland was still being called scot-land. Scot, though, gradually became a general term for local levies; a person who was not liable for the levy, but received its benefits, got off 'scot-free'.