Feu was long the most common form of land tenure in Scotland, as conveyancing in Scots law was dominated by feudalism until the Scottish Parliament passed the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000. [Note 1] The word is the Scots variant of fee. [Note 2] The English had in 1660 abolished these tenures, with An Act Taking Away the Court of Wards ..., since 1948 known as the Tenures Abolition Act 1660. [3]
Duplicands of Feu-duties (Scotland) Act 1920 | |
---|---|
Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to amend the law relating to the payment of duplicands of feu-duties in Scotland. |
Citation | 10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 34 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 16 August 1920 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Prior to 1832, only the vassals of the crown had votes in parliamentary elections for the Scots counties. This favoured subinfeudation as opposed to outright sale of land. [4] This was changed by the Scottish Reform Act 1832, which increased the franchise of males in Scotland from 4,500 to 64,447. [Note 3]
In Orkney and Shetland islands, land is still largely possessed as udal property, a holding derived or handed down from the time when these islands belonged to Norway. [Note 4] Such lands could previously be converted into feus at the will of the proprietor and held from the Crown [4] or the Marquess of Zetland.[ citation needed ]
At one time, the system of conveyancing by which the transfer of feus was effected was curious and complicated by requiring the presence of parties on the land itself and the symbolic transfer of the property (for example, by throwing a shoe onto the earth of the property transferred) [Note 5] together with the registration of various documents. However, legislation since the mid-19th century has changed all of that. [4]
Various reforms were attempted before feu was eventually abolished by the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000.
In feu holding, there is a substantial annual payment in money or in kind in return for the enjoyment of the land. The Crown is the first overlord or superior, and land is held of it by crown vassals. They, in turn, may feu their land to others, who become their vassals, and the former are mediate overlords or superiors. The process of sub-infeudation may be repeated to an indefinite extent. The Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874 rendered any clause in a disposition against subinfeudation null and void. [4] [7]
Casualties, which are a feature of land held in feu, are certain payments made to the superior thar are contingent on the happening of certain events. The most important was the payment of an amount equal to one year's feu-duty by a new holder, whether heir or purchaser of the feu. The Conveyancing (Scotland) Act abolished casualties in all feus after that date, and power was given to redeem that burden on feus already existing. If the vassal does not pay the feu-duty for two years, the superior, among other remedies, may obtain by legal process a decree of irritancy, whereupon tinsel or forfeiture of the feu follows. [4]
There have been other forms of tenure:
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Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The titles date to the English feudal system. The lord enjoyed manorial rights as well as seignory, the right to grant or draw benefit from the estate. The title continues in modern England and Wales as a legally recognised form of property that can be held independently of its historical rights. It may belong entirely to one person or be a moiety shared with other people. The title is known as Breyr in Welsh.
Examples of feudalism are helpful to fully understand feudalism and feudal society. Feudalism was practiced in many different ways, depending on location and period, thus a high-level encompassing conceptual definition does not always provide a reader with the intimate understanding that detailed historical examples provide.
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Udal law is a Norse-derived legal system, found in Shetland and Orkney in Scotland, and in Manx law in the Isle of Man. It is closely related to Odelsrett; both terms are from Proto-Germanic *Ōþalan, meaning "heritage; inheritance".
Allodial title constitutes ownership of real property that is independent of any superior landlord. Allodial title is related to the concept of land held "in allodium", or land ownership by occupancy and defense of the land.
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In English law, subinfeudation is the practice by which tenants, holding land under the king or other superior lord, carved out new and distinct tenures in their turn by sub-letting or alienating a part of their lands.
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An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or serjeanty, depending on which form of tenure the estate was held under. The highest overlord of all, or lord paramount, was the monarch, who due to his ancestor William the Conqueror's personal conquest of the Kingdom of England, owned by inheritance from him all the land in England under allodial title and had no superior overlord, "holding from God and his sword", although certain monarchs, notably King John (1199–1216) purported to grant the Kingdom of England to Pope Innocent III, who would thus have become overlord to English monarchs.
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Registers of Scotland (RoS) is the non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government responsible for compiling and maintaining records relating to property and other legal documents. They currently maintain 20 public registers. The official responsible with maintaining the Registers of Scotland is the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. By ex officio, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland is also the Deputy Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland should not be confused with the Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
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