Description |
The annual reports (LC1) consist of a brief summary of the work of the Crofters' Commission or Land Court during the preceding year together with appendices containing tables of the different categories of applications dealt with and reports of selected cases. From 1888-1920 the report and appendices form one publication. From 1921-1981, they were published separately but in this series of reports they have been bound together. From 1982, the reports are in three parts:
1. Tables showing the categories of applications dealt with. 2. Reports of selected cases. 3. The annual report of the Land Court.
Each county's land court records (LC2-LC53) consist of 3 main sections: applications, landholders' holding books, and court rolls:
(i) applications
The applications consist of the papers from each case: each bears a record number which will be found in the court rolls and which should be used for ordering an application. This series has a 75 year closure period. LC2 - LC34 contain applications from the period up to local government reorganisation in 1975. LC35-53 contain applications from 1975 to 1996.
(ii) landholders holdings books
The Landholders Holdings Books are the record of Land Court decisions. From 1886-1912 and from 1956 onwards they were known as Crofters Holdings Books, but since most counties retained the title Landholders Holdings Books throughout, this term has been used in their description. Some of the holdings books are arranged by date of application, others by date of recording of the Land Court's decisions: both these dates can be obtained from the court rolls. This series is open without restriction.
The holdings books consist of three parts. Part 1 contains applications to fix fair rents, to assign holdings, to fix boundaries, to revalue holdings, to determine whether the applicant is a landholder in terms of the acts, and applications by landlords for resumption of common pasture and for removal of landholders. Part 2 consists of bonds by landholders for loans made in terms of the Crofters Acts. Part 3, begun after the 1955 Act, contains applications to assign, let or sub-let holdings, to apportion common grazings, and to renounce crofting tenancies subject to retention of the croft house. Some counties have a further division of applications which results in volumes consisting of applications for enlargement of holdings or for sist of proceedings for removal or sale.
(iii) court rolls.
The court rolls record each stage of an application. They are indexed by name of applicant and thus form a finding aid to both the applications and the holdings books. They are held by the Scottish Land Court and are not held by the National Records of Scotland. The court rolls are open without restriction, as are the annual reports of the Crofters Commission and the Scottish Land Court (LC1).
Outsize plans from applications have been transferred to the RHP series and are listed there. Other plans will be found in with the applications.
LC1 Scottish Land Court Reports LC1A Scottish Land Court Rules LC2 Land Court records: County of Aberdeen LC3 Land Court records: County of Angus LC4 Land Court records: County of Argyll LC5 Land Court records: County of Ayr LC6 Land Court records: County of Banff LC7 Land Court records: County of Berwick LC8 Land Court records: County of Bute LC9 Land Court records: County of Caithness LC10 Land Court records: County of Clackmannan LC11 Land Court records: County of Dumfries LC12 Land Court records: County of Dunbarton LC13 Land Court records: County of East Lothian LC14 Land Court records: County of Fife LC15 Land Court records: County of Inverness LC16 Land Court records: County of Kincardine LC17 Land Court records: County of Kinross LC18 Land Court records: County of Kircudbright LC19 Land Court records: County of Lanark LC20 Land Court records: County of Midlothian LC21 Land Court records: County of Moray LC22 Land Court records: County of Nairn LC23 Land Court records: County of Orkney LC24 Land Court records: County of Peebles LC25 Land Court records: County of Perth LC26 Land Court records: County of Renfrew LC27 Land Court records: County of Ross & Cromarty LC28 Land Court records: County of Roxburgh LC29 Land Court records: County of Selkirk LC30 Land Court records: County of Stirling LC31 Land Court records: County of Sutherland LC32 Land Court records: County of West Lothian LC33 Land Court records: County of Wigtown LC34 Land Court records: County of Zetland LC35 Land Court Records Highland Region: Caithness District LC36 Land Court Records Highland Region: Sutherland District LC37 Land Court Records Highland Region: Ross & Cromarty District LC38 Land Court Records Highland Region: Skye & Lochalsh District LC39 Land Court Records Highland Region: Lochaber District LC40 Land Court Records Highland Region: Inverness District LC41 Land Court Records Highland Region: Badenoch and Strathspey District LC42 Land Court Records Highland Region: Nairn District LC43 Land Court Records Grampian Region LC44 Land Court Records Tayside Region LC45 Land Court Records Fife Region LC46 Land Court Records Lothian Region LC47 Land Court Records Central Region LC48 Land Court Records Borders Region LC49 Land Court Records Strathclyde Region LC50 Land Court Records Dumfries & Galloway Region LC51 Land Court Records Orkney Islands Area LC52 Land Court Records Shetland Islands Area LC53 Land Court Records Western Isles Area |
Admin
history |
The Scottish Land Court was constituted under Section 3 of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act, 1911, and entered upon its duties on 1 April 1912. It superseded the Crofters Commission, which administered the Crofters Acts from 25 June 1886 to 31 March 1912. These Acts applied to holdings not exceeding £30 in annual value situated in crofting parishes and possessed on yearly tenure at 25 June 1886 in the seven northern counties of Scotland. Under the Act of 1911 the main provisions of the Crofters Act applied to the whole of Scotland, while the rent limit was increased from £30 to £50. The term 'Crofter' was superseded by the term 'Landholder' and the combined Acts which formed the Small Landholders' Code were cited as the Small Landholders (Scotland) Acts, 1886-1911.
The jurisdiction of the Court was extended in 1931 under the Small Landholders and Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act of that year which provided for:
(1) the removal of landholders for non-payment of rent or breach of statutory conditions;
(2) proceedings for the termination of the right of the landholder for failing, within 3 months of his registration, to occupy, cultivate and proceed to equip his holding;
(3) the preparation of records of permanent improvements;
(4) procedure whereby a statutory Small Tenant might exercise an option to become a Landholder; and
(5) the determination, by consent of Landlord and Tenant, of questions under the Agricultural Holdings Acts in lieu of arbitration.
Subsequent legislation affecting the Court included the Agriculture (Miscellaneous War Provisions) Act, 1940; the Agriculture (Miscellaneous War Provisions) (No 2) Act, 1940; the Land Drainage (Scotland) Act, 1941; the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1943; the Hill Farming Act, 1946; the Agriculture (Scotland) Act, 1948; the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1949; the Crofters (Scotland) Act, 1955 under which the reconstituted Crofters Commission proceeded to the reorganisation of townships and other matters committed to them under the Act; and the Crofters (Scotland) Act, 1961 the effect of which was to bring within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Land Court virtually all questions, particularly questions of law, arising under the Crofters Acts. Some of the Land Court?s jurisdictions were transferred to the new Crofters Commission, meaning that there were two tribunals operating in the crofting counties. The Land Court still deals with questions relating to status of holdings, rents, resumption, removal, compensation for improvements and the right of the crofter to acquire his croft land, introduced by the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 1976.
The Court's jurisdiction as regards agricultural holdings is now largely to be found in the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991 and as regards crofts, under the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993. More recently, the Court has been designated as the forum for the final stage of appeal against the decisions of the Scottish Ministers under a number of agricultural subsidy and agri-environment schemes.
Information on the operation of these statutes and on the jurisdiction of the Court are given in the Reports (LC1). |