Common land ownership in Scotland

This essay was largely inspired by the working papers of Andy Wightman, Robin Callander, Graham Boyd and James Perman. James Perman is a Chartered Accountant from Largs. Andy Wightman, Robin Callander and Graham Boyd are independent authors and researchers who work together on occasion through the Caledonia Center for Social Development. The Center undertakes research and collaborative policy development in a number of fields both in scotland and overseas. It has a particularly active program on land issues and common property rights.

scotland was an independent country for many centuries, but entered a political union with England in 1707. The Union still exists today and scotland remains part of the United Kingdom. In 1999, however, scotland regained a substantial measure of self-government through the establishment of a Scottish Parliament. The existence of the Parliament, with its ability to reform Scots law, has facilitated a new debate over longstanding and widespread concerns about the way land is owned and managed in scotland. Two pieces of land reform legislation have already been passed by the new Parliament in 2000 and 2003. One of these land reform Acts dealt with the abolition of feudal land tenure in scotland.