Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886

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Peighinn Choinnich , a hamlet of Croftern, in Glen Conon near Uig , Skye

The Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 is a law of the United Kingdom Parliament in force to this day , which for the first time established the legal definition of a crofter and a crofting parish and gave the crofters the security of their lease. This ended the era of the Highland Clearances . In many respects the law was based on the Irish Land Acts of 1870 and 1881.

prehistory

As the evictions of the Highland Clearances showed, the Crofters had no official rights to their land until 1886; so they could be evacuated from their localities at any time. From 1874 onwards, there were unrest in the crofting population because they wanted to enforce the rights to "their" leased land that they had inherited.

The causes of the unrest go back a long way in the history of the clan system , which was established in the Middle Ages, but led to different perspectives due to the different development of the upper class and the rural population:

The cultural force of dùthchas 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 responsibilitities and become commercial landlords.
The cultural influence of dùthchas [inherited right through tradition] was present throughout the Gaelic region. This was the central force in keeping the clans together because they expressed the expectation of the masses that the leading family had the responsibility to act as their protectors and, in return for loyalty, military support, levies and lease, guarantee possession of land. It was a strong and enduring conviction that persisted even after the military reasons for the clan system had disappeared and the tribal leaders had long since given up responsibility and turned into commercial landowners.

The first unrest was sparked by the Home Rule movement in Ireland, whose ideas were brought to Scotland by fishermen from the Outer Hebrides . The crofters began to fight back with lease strikes and "occupation" of pasture land by their own cattle. This pastureland was the common pasture of their community in the eyes of the crofters, but it was claimed by the landlords for large sheep farms and hunting grounds. Sometimes there were bloody clashes and the use of the military.

On the political level, the call for a legal regulation in 1883 led to the founding of the Highland Land Law Reform Association in London and the founding of the Crofters Party , which was represented in Parliament in 1885 with five members. Her motto was: Is Treasa Tuath na Tighearna ( Scottish Gaelic : The rural population is stronger than the Lords).

As the government feared that the Irish Home Rule movement would spread to Scotland, a commission was formed under the leadership of Lord Napier , which examined the situation of the Crofters through interviews in the Highlands in 1883 and presented their report in 1884. As a result, William Ewart Gladstone drafted a first bill, but it did not get through parliament in May 1885. After the resignation of Gladstone in June 1885 and his re-assumption of government on February 1, 1886, it was submitted again and came into force on June 25, 1886.

The law

The Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 recognized for the first time in the history of Scotland the rights of crofters to their land and lease and gave legal status to the traditional institution of crofting townships (a place made up of crofters).

In detail, the law regulated the following:

  • It ensured the security of the lease for the crofter as long as he paid the lease and worked the land.
  • The business can be passed on within the family.
  • In the case of relocations, full compensation must be paid for any improvements made by the crofter (e.g. house building, drainage and fences).
  • The amount of the lease must be reasonable.
  • The lease can be reviewed and re-determined by the independent Crofting Commission.
  • The establishment of the Crofting Commission.

Under the law, the Crofters Commission, a regulatory authority, was set up to be called upon in disputes between the landlords and the crofters. One of the first tasks of the commission was to determine which parishes counted among the crofting parishes and thus fell under the new law. She named eight counties of Scotland as counties whose parishes were eligible: Shetland , Orkney , Caithness , Cromartyshire , Sutherland , Ross-shire , Inverness-shire and Argyll . Within these counties, Crofting Parish was a parish in which, for 80 years, crofters had no leases, paid less than £ 30 a year in lease, and shared grazing rights .

The Crofters Commission was also responsible for setting a reasonable rent and reviewing its amount every seven years. The crofters could have the commission check the amount of their rent; often it was halved and outstanding arrears of excessive rent did not have to be paid.

In addition, the Commission had the power to expand the law and introduce other laws. She could buy land for crofting and give it to the crofters, partly to enlarge very small crofts or to give it back to landless crofters.

Reactions and consequences

The reactions to the law have been different. In the eyes of the crofters, the law was not broad enough, as it gave them no opportunity to expand their crofts, which were too small. In addition, there was no regulation for the Cottars ( sub- tenants of the crofters without land). However, the securing of the leases was welcomed and through the work of the commission they noticed that their rights were being defended. The commission was able to acquire free land and give it to the crofters, but free land was scarce and the funds available to the commission were limited. However, the law did not attack the main problem: the return of land. It offered no solutions for the cases where Crofter and Landlord each claimed the same piece of land.

In contrast, The Scotsman described the law as a great infringement on the rights of private property and the landlords called it ... communism looming in the future .

The riots were not stopped by the law, because for Arthur Balfour the law meant that it gave him the moral authority to quell any disturbance by using troops to restore law and order. A few weeks later, armed forces were deployed on Tiree and Skye again .

The Highland Land Law Reform Association and the Crofters Party fell out in the following years over the question of acquiring the land as property and how far to follow the home rule movement in Ireland, and then lost political power.

This idea was taken up again with the Crofters Act 1976 , which made it possible for the crofters to purchase their land for 15 times the lease price and thus to become owner-occupier (sole owner and sole resident ). The Land Reform Act 2003 even goes so far that it grants the crofting communities the right, under certain conditions, to acquire the land against the will of the landowner and to cultivate and administer it as community property on their own. In the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 , the crofters and owner-occupiers were legally equated and the regulation that the croft must be managed, defined more precisely so that crofts whose tenants live outside for the long term are free for the offspring.

In historical retrospect, Hunter criticizes the fact that the law established an obsolete condition that binds the crofters to leases; in contrast to Ireland, whose tenants could purchase their land under the Home Rule Act. It promotes agricultural ineffectiveness and ignores political and social considerations. According to Wightman, however, the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886 played a pioneering role in land ownership reforms in Scotland, which were limited to the Highlands. The question of land ownership has not yet been conclusively clarified, as two thirds of Scotland, with a total population of around five million, is owned by around 1252 large landowners (2000 figures).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomson: The Companion to Gaelic Scotland. 1983, p. 237.
  2. ^ Hunter: The making of the crofting community. 1976, p. 219.
  3. ↑ Devine: Clanship to Crofters' War. 1993, p. 11.
  4. ^ Hunter: The making of the crofting community. 1976, p. 206.
  5. ^ Hunter: The making of the crofting community. 1976, p. 225.
  6. ^ Thomson: The Companion to Gaelic Scotland. 1983, p. 237.
  7. ^ Hunter: The making of the crofting community. 1976, p. 225.
  8. ^ Hunter: The making of the crofting community. 1976, p. 228.
  9. ^ Hunter: The making of the crofting community. 1976, p. 283.
  10. ^ Wightman: Scotland: Land and Power. 2000, pp. 23-29.

literature

  • TM Devine: Clanship to Crofters' War: The Social Transformation of the Scottish Highlands. Manchester Univ. Press, Manchester 1993.
  • James Hunter: The making of the crofting community. John Donald, Edinburgh 1976 (revised edition, 2000), ISBN 0-85976-537-7 .
  • Derick S. Thomson: The Companion to Gaelic Scotland . Basil Blackwater Publisher Lim., Oxford 1983, ISBN 0-631-12502-7 .
  • Andy Wightman: Scotland: Land and Power . Luath Press Lim., Edinburgh 2000, ISBN 0-946487-70-7 .

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