The ‘Abolition Act; twenty years on.
The Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc (Scotland) Act 2000 came into full force on what was called the ‘appointed day’ November 28th 2004. The first thing of importance to note that this was not an act to improve our old procedures; it was Abolition with a capital A. Superiors and vassals were abolished; these emotive words had been a blessing to copywriters of the popular press and their use of which could always be relied upon to sell a few more copies of the Sunday papers. Superiors were sent packing with minimum compensation; the level of compensation was so low that hardly any superior thought it worthwhile to attempt to collect. On the other hand, vassals became absolute owners and had no need to make annual payments (however small) to their superior.
Unless the former superiors were prepared to jump through complex hoops, the preservation of burdens set out in feu charters and dispositions became effectively non-existent. Rights of pre-emption (the right of first refusal on a property being offered for sale) were made almost impossible to enforce. Finally, entailment (the right to set out a line of succession to heritable rights) was abolished. Just to remind us that this was an Act to abolish the feudal system, Section 55 in a line and a half extinguished any remaining rights of thirlage.
Although the Abolition Act is said to bind the Crown, it preserves all of the ancient money-making privileges ‘used and wont’ by the Crown including: sea shore, maritime, and mines of gold and silver.
The Abolition Act was received by the people of Scotland almost without comment and since it came into force there has been little or no appetite for changes to the Act.
Section 63 in four short clauses deals with ‘Baronies and other dignities and offices.’ Clause one extinguishes the special conveyancing rights attached to baronial land but explicitly preserves the dignity of baron. Clause 2 separates the dignity of baron from the former baronial land and therefore declares that the dignity of baron shall be an incorporeal heritable right and not ‘an interest in land’ nor shall it be capable of registration in in the Land Register or the Sasine Register. Because of this last-mentioned provision, it is now impossible to acquire a dignity of baron by prescription; the positive prescription only applying to interests in land. Clause 3 protects holders of securities of baronial assets and lastly Clause 4 defines some terminology.
After the passing of the Abolition Act a number of ill-informed journalists prophesied an epidemic of scamming etc. of barony titles; happily, we can report no incidence of this where purchasers have used a Scottish solicitor and registered their dignity in the Scottish Barony Register.
For us, at www.baronytitles.com, the first few years after the Abolition Act was in force were the years of litigation. This litigation was on and off until about 2017 covering the reign of three Lords Lyon. Very briefly the litigation was about the effects of the Abolition Act on the heraldic rights of barons. Fortunately, this appears to have settled down now and we have had a period of stability for the last seven years – long may it continue!
We initially thought that the extended litigation would have a serious effect on our ability to run our business. However, any reduction in business which we have experienced is because we are no longer able to obtain instructions to sell titles as often as used to be the case. There are, after all, a finite number of feudal baronies and no one acquires one with the intention of selling it.
On a personal note, and as I am retiring in March 2025 as a partner in www.baronytitles.com I would like to say how much I have enjoyed working with you all over the last 33 years. I would like to give special thanks to the professors of law and of land economy, Profs Love, Cusine and Paisley in the law department and Prof. Bryan McGregor in Land Economy, at the University of Aberdeen for admitting a worn-out welder and forcing him to think for himself.
Brian G Hamilton