Developments in the Scottish Law of Land Registration

Abstract

The article considers the development of land registration in Scotland, beginning with the Registration Act 1617. This introduced the Register of Sasines, a deed-based register. In the twentieth century, it was decided to move over to a register of title allowing all land to be mapped, but the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979, which introduced the new Land Register, was inadequate and problematic. In particular, it was inconsistent with underlying Scottish property law. In addition, the speed at which properties have moved from the old register to the new has been slow. The 1979 legislation has now been replaced with the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012. This is a far more impressive piece of legislation. It reforms the Land Register so that it fits with general property law and simultaneously speeds up the process of moving properties into it. The 2012 legislation also brings Scottish land‑registration law closer to its German and Estonian counterparts.