dates in Scotland

[EagleJCS]

What about this?

Kilt Wearers Calendar
July 1 -- Proscription Act Repealed, thus allowing again the wearing of kilts & tartan, the teaching of Gaelic, and the carrying of weapons; including bagpipes. (1782)

August 1 -- Proscription Act introduced, banning kilts, tartan, bagpipes (banned as a weapon of war), the teaching of Gaelic, and the carrying of weapons. (1747)

As a piper I feel I must chime in on this one...

The Act of Proscription did NOT ban bagpipes - it didn't even mention them. If you want to read the full act, it can be found here.

Only one minor English court ever described the Great Highland Bagpipe as an 'instrument of war' (not a 'weapon'), and that was in the conviction of a piper in the Jacobite army.

From Wiki Answers:
"Like most myths it is drawn from several sources. Principally the trial of a Jacobite piper James Reid, the Proscription act of 1747 which banned the use of arms (and warlike weapons and the wearing of tartan amongst other things) in the Highlands and a work published in the aftermath of Culloden by Donald MacDonald decrying the pipes being "laid aside" and "music lost".

James Reid the piper in question was captured at Carlisle which the Jacobites had garrisoned with Ogilvy's and the Manchester Regiment as they retreated north from Derby. He was tried along with 70 other rebels and sentenced to death with 21 others. The jury recommended leniency being a piper but the judge decided otherwise. He was executed for high treason for taking part in the rebellion not for playing the pipes. During his trial his defense was he was a piper so hadn't born arms, the judge said in sentencing that any person who joined with others 'though they did not bear arms, were yet guilty of high treason' but more famously for the myth that 'no regiment ever marched without musical instruments such as trumpets drums and the like....a highland regiment never marched without a piper...and therefore his bagpipe in the eyes of the law was an instrument of war' and he was convicted of taking part in the rebellion. He was the only Jacobite piper executed. Following Culloden only five Pipers were prosecuted for being rebels. One was transported (pleading guilty to rebellion), one executed as above, two were pardoned and one there is no information on. The successful defenses proves the playing of the pipes was never taken into account as binding by other courts. It should be noted that any decision handed down by an English Court would not be binding on a Scottish court as Scots law is completely separate."