# Laird

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{{Italic title}}{{Short description|Style that applies to an owner of a Scottish estate}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}

{{Baronage of Scotland}}

'''Laird''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɛər|d}}) is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established [Scottish](/source/Scotland) estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a [baron](/source/Baronage_of_Scotland) and above a [gentleman](/source/gentleman). This rank was held only by those holding official recognition in a [territorial designation](/source/territorial_designation) by the [Lord Lyon King of Arms](/source/Lord_Lyon_King_of_Arms). They are usually styled [''name''] [''surname''] of [''lairdship'']. However, since "laird" is a [courtesy title](/source/Courtesy_titles_in_the_United_Kingdom), it has no formal status in law.

Historically, the term '''bonnet laird''' was applied to rural, petty landowners, as they wore a [bonnet](/source/Bonnet_(headgear)) like the non-landowning classes. Bonnet lairds filled a position in society below lairds and above [husbandmen](/source/Husbandman) (farmers), similar to the [yeomen](/source/Yeoman) of England.<ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of bonnet laird |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bonnet%20laird |publisher=Merriam-Webster (Dictionary) |access-date=30 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203134642/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bonnet%20laird |archive-date=3 February 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

An [Internet fad](/source/Internet_fad) is the selling of tiny [souvenir plot](/source/souvenir_plot)s of Scottish land and a claim of a "laird" title to go along with it, but the Lord Lyon has decreed these [meaningless](/source/False_titles_of_nobility) for several reasons.

== Etymology ==
{{lang|sco|Laird}} (earlier {{lang|sco|lard}}) is the now-standard [Scots](/source/Scots_language) pronunciation (and phonetic spelling) of the word that is pronounced and spelled in standard English as ''lord''.<ref>{{cite web | title=Dictionary of the Scots Language |url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/laird |access-date=4 Oct 2019 }}</ref> As can be seen in the [Middle English](/source/Middle_English) version of [Chaucer](/source/Geoffrey_Chaucer)'s [Canterbury Tales](/source/Canterbury_Tales),<ref>''The [Canterbury Tales](/source/Canterbury_Tales)'' (edited by Jill Mann) Penguin Classics 2005</ref> specifically in the [Reeve's Tale](/source/Reeve's_Tale), Northern Middle English had ''a'' where Southern Middle English had ''o'', a difference still found in standard English ''two'' and Scots {{lang|sco|twa}}.

The Scots and Northern English dialectal variant {{lang|sco|laird}} has been recorded in writing since the 13th century, as a surname, and in its modern context since the middle of the 15th century. It is derived from the Northern Middle English {{lang|enm|laverd}}, itself derived from the [Old English](/source/Old_English) word {{lang|ang|hlafweard}} meaning "warden of [loaves](/source/loaf)".<ref>{{cite web |title=Online Etymology Dictionary – laird |url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=laird&allowed_in_frame=0 |access-date=4 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325234617/http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=laird&allowed_in_frame=0 |archive-date=25 March 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [Standard English](/source/Standard_English) variant, ''lord'', is of the same origin, and would have formerly been interchangeable with ''laird''; however, in modern usage the term ''lord'' is associated with a [peerage](/source/peerage) title, and thus the terms have come to have separate meanings. (In Scotland, the title ''[baron](/source/Baronage_of_Scotland)'' is not a peerage; the equivalent of an English baron is a [Lord of Parliament](/source/Lord_of_Parliament), e.g. [Lord Lovat](/source/Lord_Lovat).)

== History and definition ==
thumb|Carving believed to depict a 16th-century Scottish laird
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the designation was used for land owners holding directly of the Crown, and therefore were entitled to attend Parliament. Lairds reigned over their estates like [prince](/source/prince)s, their castles forming a small court. Originally in the 16th and 17th centuries, the designation was applied to the head chief of a highland clan and therefore was not personal property and had obligations towards the community.<ref>Perelman, p.141 ( ch. 7 )</ref>

The laird might possess certain local or [feudal](/source/feudal) rights. A lairdship carried voting rights in the ancient pre-Union [Parliament of Scotland](/source/Parliament_of_Scotland), although such voting rights were expressed via two representatives from each county who were known as [commissioners of the shires](/source/Commissioner_(Scottish_Parliament)), who came from the minor noble class (including lairds) and were chosen by their peers to represent them. A certain level of landownership was a necessary qualification (40 shillings of old extent). A laird is said to hold a lairdship. A woman who holds a lairdship in her own right has been styled with the honorific "Lady".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Adam, F. |author2=Innes of Learney, T. |year=1952 |edition=4th |title=The Clans, Septs, and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands |place=Edinburgh & London |publisher=W. & A.K. Johnston Limited}}</ref>

Although "laird" is sometimes translated as ''[lord](/source/lord)'' and historically signifies the same, like the English term ''[lord of the manor](/source/lord_of_the_manor)'', ''laird'' is not a title of [nobility](/source/nobility). The designation is a "corporeal hereditament" (an inheritable property that has an explicit tie to the physical land), i.e. the designation cannot be held [in gross](/source/Hereditary_in_gross), and cannot be bought and sold without selling the physical land. The designation does not entitle the owner to sit in the [House of Lords](/source/House_of_Lords), and is the Scottish equivalent to an English [squire](/source/squire), in that it is not a noble title, more a courtesy designation meaning landowner with no other rights assigned to it. A person can be recognised as a laird, if not a [chief or chieftain](/source/Scottish_clan_chief), or descendant of one of these, by the formal recognition of a [territorial designation](/source/territorial_designation) as a part of their name by the Lord Lyon.<ref>{{cite web |title=How to address a Chief, Chieftain or Laird |url=http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/scottish-and-irish-titles/chief-chieftain-or-laird |work=Debrett's Forms of Address |publisher=Debrett's |access-date=14 July 2010 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528223550/http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/scottish-and-irish-titles/chief-chieftain-or-laird |archive-date=28 May 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Adam, F. |author2=Innes of Learney, T. |year=1952 |edition=4th |title=The Clans, Septs, and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands |place=Edinburgh & London |publisher=W. & A.K. Johnston Limited |page=401 |quote="Scottish law and nobiliary practice, like those of many other European realms, recognise a number of special titles, some of which relate to chiefship and chieftaincy of families and groups as such, others being in respect of territorial lairdship. These form part of the Law of Name which falls under the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon King of Arms, and are recognised by the Crown. [...] As regards these chiefly, clan, and territorial titles, by Scots law each proprietor of an estate is entitled to add the name of his property to his surname, and if he does this consistently, to treat the whole as a title or name, and under Statute 1672 cap. 47, to subscribe himself so"}}</ref> The Lord Lyon is the ultimate arbiter as to determining entitlement to a territorial designation, and his right of discretion in recognising these, and their status as a name, dignity or title, have been confirmed in the Scottish courts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2009CSIH61.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216062956/http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2009CSIH61.html |archive-date=16 December 2014 |title=Opinion of the Court delivered by Lord Marnoch|publisher=Court of Session |access-date=29 July 2011}}</ref>

=== Today ===
[[File:The Laird, a figurine by Royal Doulton.jpg|thumb|The Laird, a figurine by [Royal Doulton](/source/Royal_Doulton)]]
A study in 2003 by academics at the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen concluded that:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-02/esr-ths022003.php |title=The Highland sporting estate: Absentee landlords slow to embrace change |access-date=2015-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811095114/http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-02/esr-ths022003.php |archive-date=2016-08-11 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
{{quote|The modern Scottish Highland sporting estate continues to be a place owned by an absentee landowner who uses its 15-20,000 acres for hunting and family holidays. While tolerating public access, he (82% of lairds are male) feels threatened by new legislation, and believes that canoeing and mountain-biking should not take place on his estate at all.}}

== Traditional and current forms of address ==

The use of the honorific "[The Much Honoured](/source/The_Much_Honoured)" by lairds is archaic, although technically correct.

The wife of a laird may be accorded the [courtesy](/source/courtesy_title) title [Lady](/source/Lady); [King George V](/source/King_George_V) and his wife [Queen Mary](/source/Mary_of_Teck) were reported as being "The Laird and Lady of [Balmoral](/source/Balmoral_Castle)" by the Scottish press in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Laird and Lady of Balmoral |url=http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/results?memberlastsubclass=none&searchhistorykey=0&keywords=laird%20and%20lady%20glen |publisher=Dundee Courier Angus, Scotland – 26 August 1927 |access-date=4 June 2014 |quote=The Laird and Lady of Balmoral. How a Royal Holiday is Spent. By a Special Correspondent. The King arrives at Balmoral Castle tomorrow morning, and the Queen will join His Majesty towards the end of next week. Deeside has been preparing for His Majesty's annual&nbsp;... |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905102450/http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/results?memberlastsubclass=none&searchhistorykey=0&keywords=laird%20and%20lady%20glen |archive-date=5 September 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In the UK television series ''[Monarch of the Glen](/source/Monarch_of_the_Glen_(TV_series))'' (based on the 1941 novel by [Compton Mackenzie](/source/Compton_Mackenzie)), the wife of "Hector Naismith MacDonald, Laird of Glenbogle" is referenced as  "Lady of Glenbogle".<ref>{{cite web |title=Susan Hampshire: Monarch of the TV |url=http://www.leighjournal.co.uk/news/423563.display/ |work=Leigh Journal |date=17 October 2003 |access-date=30 January 2016 |quote=FAR from being a dotty dowager, Molly – now the Second Lady of Glenbogle – has style&nbsp;... |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202101402/http://www.leighjournal.co.uk/news/423563.display/ |archive-date=2 February 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Souvenir plots and false titles==
{{See also|Souvenir plot|False titles of nobility}}

A contemporary popular view of lairdship titles has taken a unique twist in the 21st century with sales of [souvenir plot](/source/souvenir_plot)s from sellers who obtain no legal right to the title. A souvenir plot is defined in the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012 as "a piece of land&nbsp;... of inconsiderable size or no practical utility".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[Journal of the Law Society of Scotland](/source/Journal_of_the_Law_Society_of_Scotland)|date=16 April 2012|title=Caution the souvenir hunters|url=http://www.journalonline.co.uk/magazine/57-4/1011036.aspx#.XWL-BhjTWWg}}</ref> Several websites, and [Internet vendors](/source/Online_auction_business_model) on websites like [eBay](/source/eBay), sell Scottish lairdships along with minuscule "plots of land" – usually one [square foot](/source/square_foot). The [Court of the Lord Lyon](/source/Court_of_the_Lord_Lyon) considers these particular titles to be meaningless<ref>{{cite news |first=Auslan |last=Cramb |title=How to lord it over your friends for only £29.99 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1478745/How-to-lord-it-over-your-friends-for-only-29.99.html |work=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) | date=11 December 2004 |access-date=20 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100225122729/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1478745/How-to-lord-it-over-your-friends-for-only-29.99.html |archive-date=25 February 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> because it is impossible to have numerous "lairds" of a single estate at the same time, as has been advertised by these companies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scots-titles.com/fake-lairds-lords/the-ludicrous-%E2%80%9Cscottish-laird%E2%80%9D-scams |title=The Ludicrous 'Scottish Laird' Scams |access-date=18 June 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913160826/http://www.scots-titles.com/fake-lairds-lords/the-ludicrous-%E2%80%9Cscottish-laird%E2%80%9D-scams |archive-date=13 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefrasers.com/nessie/news/nesspapr708.html |title=New Internet Con Selling Phoney Lairdships |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426161418/http://www.thefrasers.com/nessie/news/nesspapr708.html |archive-date=26 April 2012 }}</ref>

However, despite the law and guidance by the Court of the Lord Lyon, the sellers view the contract purporting to sell a plot of Scottish souvenir land as bestowing the buyer with the informal right to the title of Laird. This is despite the fact that the buyer does not acquire ownership of the plot because registration of the plot is prohibited by Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012, s 22 (1)(b). As ownership of land in Scotland requires registration of a valid disposition under Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012, s 50 (2), the prohibition on registration of a souvenir plot means the buyer does not acquire ownership, and accordingly has no entitlement to a descriptive title premised on landownership.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/776.html |title=The Court of the Lord Lyon |date=July 2016 |access-date=16 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728090955/http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/776.html |archive-date=28 July 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Lord Lyon, Scotland's authority on titles and heraldry, has produced the following guidance regarding the current concept of a "souvenir plot" and the use of the term "laird" as a courtesy title:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/776.html |title=The Court of the Lord Lyon: Lairds |date=July 2016 |access-date=9 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728090955/http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/776.html |archive-date=28 July 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{quote|The term "laird" has generally been applied to the owner of an estate, sometimes by the owner himself or, more commonly, by those living and working on the estate. It is a description rather than a title, and is not appropriate for the owner of a normal residential property, far less the owner of a small souvenir plot of land. The term "laird" is not synonymous with that of "lord" or "lady".
<p>Ownership of a souvenir plot of land is not sufficient to bring a person otherwise ineligible within the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon for the purpose of seeking a grant of arms.</p>}}

== See also ==
* [Forms of address in the United Kingdom](/source/Forms_of_address_in_the_United_Kingdom)
* [Laird (surname)](/source/Laird_(surname))
* [Baronage of Scotland](/source/Baronage_of_Scotland)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* [Perelman, Michael](/source/Michael_Perelman_(economist)) ''[https://archive.org/details/inventionofcapit02pere The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation]'' Published by [Duke University Press](/source/Duke_University_Press), 2000 {{ISBN|978-0-8223-2491-1}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-lairds.html lairds | Encyclopedia.com]
* [http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/territorial-designation.html scotshistoryonline.co.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803024314/http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/territorial-designation.html |date=3 August 2020 }}

Category:15th-century neologisms
Category:Courtesy titles
Category:Feudalism in Scotland
Category:Lairds
Category:Society of Scotland
Category:Scottish titles

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Laird](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laird) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laird?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.