OUR Sovereigne Lord, considering the great hurt suffered sustained by his Majesties Lieges, by the fraudulent  dealing  of  parties,  who  having  annalied  their  lands,  and  received  great  summes  of money  therefore,  Yet  by  their  injust  concealing  of  some  private  Right  formerly  made  by  them, render the subsequent alienation done for great summes of money, altogether unprofitable: which can not be avoided unless the saids private rights be made publick and patent to his Highnes Lieges:  for  remedy  thereof,  and  of  the  many  inconveniences  which  may  ensue  thereupon:  His Majesty with advice and consent of the Estates of Parliament, statutes and ordeins, That there shall be   ane   publick   Register,   in   which   all   Reversions,   Regresses,   assignations   of   the   same, Renunciations of Wadsets, and grants of Redemption, and siklike all instruments of Seasing shall be registrat ...And if it shall happen any of the saids Writs, which are appointed to be Registrated as said is not to be duly registrated within the space of threescore dayes: then, in that case, his Majesty, with advice and consent foresaid, decernes the same to make no faith in Judgement by way of action or exception in prejudice  of a third party, who hath acquired a perfect and lawful Right to the saids Lands and Heritages. The register was to be 'patent to all Our Sovereign Lords Lieges, and extracts thereof to be given ... to all who have adoe with the same, which shall make as great faith as the originals'. The Register was to be kept under the authority of the Lord Clerk Register but 'for the greater ease of the lieges'  the registers would be compiled by Deputes resident in sixteen Burghs to serve surrounding sheriffdoms. The 'evidents' of the transaction were to be presented to the registrar who was required to record the same  within  48  hours  of  receipt.  Registration  was  achieved  by  'ingrossing'  the  whole  text  of  the document in the register. The 'evidents' were then returned to the presenter marked with the day, month and year of registration together with the number of the pages of the register on which the text was to be found. Thus from the first quarter of the 17th century the conveyance of title to land in Scotland, in addition to a signed and witnessed writing and a notarial instrument narrating that sasine had been given, came also to include registration in a public register. Whether it was intended that registration should become an essential element of the process of completing title or whether title was complete once the notarial Instrument of Sasine was obtained remained an open question. The matter was settled with the decision of the majority of the Court of Session in Young v Leith⁵ who held that title was not complete until registration was completed. Registration was not simply to give notice or publicity of the  transaction  or  simply  to  provide  information  as  to  the  true  owner  of  an  interest  in  land. Registration was an essential part of the transaction without which the grantee would not have a real right in the property. The creation of the register was a deliberate, considered act of public policy for the protection of the lieges. The Scottish registers have been public since their inception, in contrast to  the  Land  Register  in  England  and  Wales  which,  until  3  December  1990,  was  open  only  to proprietors or their solicitors. The Register  of Sasines  underwent several organisational changes until the local registers were finally closed and the whole registration process centralised in Edinburgh, although records continued to be kept according to the 33 county divisions of Scotland. Separate registers kept for the Royal Burghs were also closed and properties in the burghs gradually came to be registered in the Register of Sasines. By the turn of the 20th century the Register comprised the Record Volume (a verbatim transcript of all deeds recorded) and the Minute Book (a sequential series of minutes or abstracts of the recorded deeds in the order of registration) indexed by name and place. In addition, from 1876 onwards there has been kept a  search  sheet  which  is  in  essence  a  ledger  for  each  property  in  Scotland  on  which  are  entered  in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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