Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886
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The Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 ( gd, Achd na Croitearachd 1886) is an Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
that created legal definitions of ''crofting parish'' and ''crofter'', granted security of
land tenure In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...
to crofters and produced the first
Crofters Commission The Crofting Commission ( gd, Coimisean na Croitearachd) took the place of the Crofters Commission ( gd, Coimisean nan Croitearan) on 1 April 2012 as the statutory regulator for crofting in Scotland. Based in Inverness, it is an executive non- ...
, a land court which ruled on disputes between
landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...
s and crofters. The same court ruled on whether
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
es were or were not crofting parishes. In many respects the Act was modelled on the
Irish Land Acts The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by ...
of 1870 and 1881. By granting the crofters security of tenure, the Act put an end to the
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...
. The Act was largely a result of crofters' agitation which had become well organised and very persistent in Skye and of growing support, throughout the
Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...
, for the Crofters Party, which had gained five
members of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
in the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
of 1885. Agitation took the form of
rent strike A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This ca ...
s (withholding rent payments) and occupying land which the landlords had reserved for hunting or sheep. The Act itself did not quell the agitation. In particular it was very weak in terms of enabling the Crofters Commission to resolve disputes about access to land. It was enough however to make much more acceptable, politically, the use of troops in confrontations with agitators. The Act was not fully effective in increasing the equality of land distribution in Scotland. By the year 2000, two-thirds of Scotland's land area was still owned by only 1,252 landowners out of a population of 5 million. (figures are for 2000)


Background

During the
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...
, the crofters had no official rights to the land; until 1886, it was legal to evict any crofter at the landlord's convenience. The Land Wars commenced in Scotland in 1874 with the successful legal case of the
Bernera Riot The Bernera Riot occurred in 1874, on the island of Great Bernera, in Scotland in response to the Highland Clearances. The use of the term 'Bernera Riot' correctly relates to the court case which exposed the maltreatment of the peasant classes ...
on the island of Great Bernera in the Outer Hebrides. The crofters wanted recognition of their traditional rights to the land that they had enjoyed under the
clan system A Scottish clan (from Gaelic , literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared identity and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recogni ...
from the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. Through political and economic development the gentry began to take an alternate perspective on their tenantry:
The cultural force of ' eritage/nowiki> was pervasive in Gaeldom and was central to the social cohesion of the clan because it articulated the expectations of the masses that the ruling family had the responsibility to act as their protectors and guarantee secure possession of land in return for allegiance, military service, tribute and rental. It was a powerful and enduring belief which lived on long after the military rationale of clanship itself had disappeared and tribal chiefs had shed their ancient responsibilities and become commercial landlords.
Land agitation in Scotland began because of the "Home Rule" movement in Ireland and information and opinions of this movement brought by fishermen to the
Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...
. Believing that they were the rightful owners of the land, crofters used
rent strike A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This ca ...
s and what came to be known as land raids: crofter occupations of land to which crofters believed they should have access for common grazing or for new crofts, but which landlords had given over to sheep farming and hunting parks (called deer forests). The strife grew more intense; the landlords hired warships for protection from the crofters. From time to time there were open uprisings and riots. In 1884 suffrage was extended to men owning land worth at least £10 or paying £10 in rent annually. This included many Highland crofters. At a political level the crofters wanted legal rights, so the ' ('Highland Land Law Reform Association') was established in 1885 in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The
Crofters' Party The Crofters' Party was the parliamentary arm of the Highland Land League The first Highland Land League ( gd, Dionnasg an Fhearainn) emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highl ...
was established and elected five MPs in 1885. ' ('The people are stronger than the lord') was their best-known slogan. The government feared that the "Home Rule" movement would spread to the (Gaelic-speaking areas in Scotland) from Ireland. The
Napier Commission The Napier Commission, officially the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands was a royal commission and public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and ...
interviewed crofters all over the and made careful study of the crofters' position, publishing its report in 1884. William Gladstone tried to pass a new law granting crofters more rights, but it was voted down in May 1885. Gladstone left his post in 1885 but the other parties created a new government. Gladstone returned to power in January 1886, and the act was finally passed 25 June 1886.


The Act

For the first time in
Scottish history The recorded begins with the arrival of the Roman Empire in the 1st century, when the province of Britannia reached as far north as the Antonine Wall. North of this was Caledonia, inhabited by the ''Picti'', whose uprisings forced Rome ...
, the Crofting Act of 1886 affirmed the rights of crofters to their land. It also granted a legal status to crofting towns. The Act dealt with the following points especially: * It gave
security of tenure Security of tenure is a term used in political science to describe a constitutional or legal guarantee that a political office-holder cannot be removed from office except in exceptional and specified circumstances. Without security of tenure, an ...
to the crofters, as long as they worked the croft and paid the rent. * Crofters had the right to pass down their croft to their descendants. * Crofters had the right to be paid for land improvements, such as erecting fences and drainage * A standard of reasonable rent was established and required. * The first Crofters' Commission was established. * Crofters had the opportunity to reassess the rent with the Crofters' Commission. The Act specified eight counties of Scotland as counties where parishes might be recognised as crofting parishes:
Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...
,
Caithness Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
,
Cromarty Cromarty (; gd, Cromba, ) is a town, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth, it is seaward from ...
,
Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
,
Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
,
Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...
,
Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...
, and
Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...
. Within these counties a crofting parish was a parish where there were year-by-year
tenant Tenant may refer to: Real estate *Tenant, the holder of a leasehold estate in real estate *Tenant-in-chief, in feudal land law *Tenement (law), the holder of a legal interest in real estate *Tenant farmer *Anchor tenant, one of the larger stores ...
s of land (tenants without leases) who were paying less than £30 a year in rent and who had possessed effective common
grazing rights Grazing rights is the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area. United States Grazing rights have never been codified in United States law, because such common-law rights derive from the English concept of the ...
during the 80 years since 24 June 1806. The Crofters' Commission also was in charge of establishing fair rent and reevaluating rents every seven years. If crofters believed that the rent was too high they had the opportunity to go to the commission. Quite often the rents were lowered or even removed, if the crofters had already been paying too much. The Commission had the power to reform the Act and establish other Acts, as well as grant green land to crofters in order to enlarge small crofts.


Results

There were different opinions about the Act. On the one hand crofters complained that the Act did not go far enough, because they were not granted automatic right to fertile land for expansion of their small crofts. Worse, the Act did not delineate the position of cotters, who had never had land. After a while, they saw that the Commission was willing to protect their rights, especially with regard to
rent security Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...
. Unfortunately, the Commission was underfunded and there was not enough land to distribute to crofters. The Act did not resolve the greatest complaint of the crofters, that the land should be returned to them. There was no resolution of the issue where landlords and crofters wanted the same piece of land. On the other hand, the landlords said that there was "communism looming in the future" and ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'' wrote that the Act was a "great infringement on the rights of private property.'" The Act did not end the land agitation, because
Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...
believed that the Act gave moral authority to the authorities to quell every uprising to reestablish "law and order." For this reason, warships were sent to the Isle of Skye and
Tiree Tiree (; gd, Tiriodh, ) is the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The low-lying island, southwest of Coll, has an area of and a population of around 650. The land is highly fertile, and crofting, alongside tourism, an ...
. In the years after the Act, ' (now called ', "the Land League") and the Crofters' Party the political influence that they had had, because they could not agree on the issue of land and how far to follow the "Home Rule" movement in Ireland on the issue of land ownership. This opinion was raised again in the Crofting Act 1976 in which crofters gained the legal right to purchase their land for fifteen years' rent. However, by owning their own land, crofters lost the right to CCAGS (''Crofting Counties Agricultural Grant Scheme''). In the
Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which establishes statutory public rights of access to land and makes provisions under which bodies representing rural and crofting communities may buy land. Provisions T ...
the right of purchase was given to community organizations even against the will of landowners, to advance social and economic development. The
Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production particular to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th century townships, individual crofts were established on the bette ...
granted equality between tenants and landowners, especially with regard to grants and obligations and clarified the details of residency requirements. Now, tenants or owners must live within of the croft. Crofts not in use may be granted to new tenants. Looking back in history, Hunter believes that the Act established an old-fashioned order, with a place for the tenantry quite different than as in Ireland where crofters could buy their land under "Home Rule" acts. The Act was neither effective in the development of crofting communities nor did it encompass the political and social beliefs of those communities. But according to Wightman, the Act paved the road to further land development in Scotland, although it did not affect areas outside the . Wightman also stated that the "land question" has yet to be resolved, as two-thirds of Scotland's land area is still owned by only 1,252 landowners out of a population of 5 million.


Primary Legislation since 1886

There has been a steady flow of primary legislation on crofting, including: * Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 * Crofters Holding (Scotland) Act 1887 * Crofters Commission (Delegation of Powers) Act 1888 * Crofters Common Grazings Regulation Act, 1891 * Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911 * Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955 * Crofters (Scotland) Act 1961 * Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 1976 * Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 * Transfer of Crofting Estates (Scotland) Act 1997 * Crofting Reform etc. Act 2007 * Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 * Crofting (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2013 This is summarised in David Findlay's Blog for the Law Society of Scotland.


See also

*
Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...
* Highland Potato Famine * History of Scotland § Rural life


Citations


References

* * * * *


External links

* {{UK legislation Crofting Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Scotland United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1886 History of Orkney History of Shetland History of the Outer Hebrides History of the Scottish Highlands History of Argyll and Bute 1886 in Scotland Highland Estates Highlands and Islands of Scotland Agriculture legislation in the United Kingdom Land law