Ethical principles kindled in former Scottish county (8)
I believe the answer is:
morality
'ethical principles' is the definition.
'morality' can be an answer for 'principles' (thesaurus). I am not certain of the 'ethical' bit.
'kindled in former scottish county' is the wordplay.
'kindled' becomes 'lit' (synonyms).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'former scottish county' becomes 'moray' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lit' inserted within 'moray' is 'MORALITY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for morality that I've seen before include "Principles of good and bad for my tailor" , "Ancient drama" , "System of values of right and wrong" , "Ethics" , "Concern with the distinction between right and wrong" .)