It is intriguing to follow the battle being fought on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides where local people are forcing the local laird to sell them his land as they feel it is not being used in their interests. Apparently this can be done as a result of the new land act which has swept away the old ‘Feu’ system whereby most of Scottish land was not freehold, as for example it is in England, but held nominally by Feu Superiors-in Huttonian’s case his Feu Superior is the Church of Scotland-see below.
Should the Lewis people be successful it might just start a fashion elsewhere. Say an unpopular Laird had land which he was proposing to use in way seen as contrary to the interests of local people-perhaps, to pluck a for instance out of the ether-selling a field for housing development, then it might be possible to use the act to oblige him/her to sell the land in question to a consortium of locals who might have their own plans seen as community friendly. Far fetched? Watch this space.
Huttonian inhabits a former Manse which was sold off some thirty years ago as being no longer appropriate for the Church of Scotland to underwrite the costs of running a large and expensive building. But the Church retained its Feu rights. Consequently when we bought the house we had to accept ‘Burdens’-no mention of the word Manse in the name of the house-no spiritual or religious meetings in the property-no gambling and no sale of alcohol. Presumably these restrictions were meant to ensure that no disrepute would be attached to what had been a church building (Apparently running a brothel is ok) Now it seems as these burdens will slip away and we will have full freehold. Playing poker for pennies,, saying grace before a meal, selling Pimms as part of a fund raising function (as indeed we have naughtily done) will be legally permissible. But above all we will be at last allowed to call our house-The Old Manse by which it is universally known around here rather than the contrived and grand address which even after 30 years often rings no bells with locals when asked where it is.
