Udal law

{{Other uses|Udal (disambiguation){{!}}Udal}}

'''Udal law''' is a Norse-derived legal system, found in Shetland and Orkney in Scotland, and in Manx law<ref>[http://ariadne.uio.no/colmed/z-psan95.htm Collegium Medievale 8.1 (1995, publ. 1996), 5-49] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623082011/http://ariadne.uio.no/colmed/z-psan95.htm |date=2007-06-23 }}</ref> in the Isle of Man. It is closely related to Odelsrett; both terms are from Proto-Germanic *''Ōþalan'', meaning "heritage; inheritance".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.charles-tait.co.uk/guide/orkguide/pages/udal_law.html|title=Orkney Guide Book: Udal Law|website=www.charles-tait.co.uk|access-date=2020-03-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510163053/http://www.charles-tait.co.uk/guide/orkguide/pages/udal_law.html|archive-date=2020-05-10|url-status=live}}</ref>

==History== Udal law was codified by the Norwegian kings Magnus I and Magnus VI. The Treaty of Perth transferred the Outer Hebrides and Isle of Man to Scots law, while Norse law and rule still applied for Shetland and Orkney.

The courts of Scotland have intermittently acknowledged the supremacy of udal law in property cases up to the present day. Major differences from Scots law include shore ownership rights, important for pipelines and buried cables.

Udal law generally holds sway in Shetland and Orkney, along with Scots law.

==Description== {{Infobox UK legislation | short_title = Udal Tenure Act 1690 | type = Act | parliament = Parliament of Scotland | long_title = Act in favours of the small vassalls of Kirklands who now hold of their Majesties. | year = 1690 | citation = April c. 61 | introduced_commons = | introduced_lords = | territorial_extent = | royal_assent = 19 July 1690 | commencement = | expiry_date = | repeal_date = | amends = | replaces = | amendments = | repealing_legislation = {{ubli|Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000}} | related_legislation = | status = repealed | legislation_history = | theyworkforyou = | millbankhansard = | original_text = | revised_text = | use_new_UK-LEG = | UK-LEG_title = | collapsed = yes }} Not all land in Shetland and Orkney can be described as falling under udal tenure. The type of tenure depends on how the title arose:<ref name="L32ROS"/>

#Unwritten udal title, while rare, does exist, for udal law did not require written title deeds. #Recorded udal titles, as entered in the Sasine Register, provide proof by prescription for the purposes of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973.<ref>{{cite legislation UK |type=act |year=1973 |chapter=52 |act=Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973}}</ref> #Some udal proprietors resigned their lands to the Crown in exchange for a grant of feudal title to the ''dominium utile'', thus removing the land from udal law. #Where some feu dispositions arose in quasi-feudal circumstances, such as sales under the right to buy legislation with respect to council houses, the terms of the relevant deed will govern which tenure applies.

The udal tenant held without charter by uninterrupted possession on payment to the Crown, the kirk, or a grantee from the Crown of a tribute called skat ({{langx|no|skatt}}), now meaning "tax". This is cognate with the English term scot, which referred to a similar payment), or without such payment, the latter right being more strictly the udal right. They were convertible into feus at the option of the udallers.<ref>{{EB1911 |inline=1 |wstitle=Udal |volume=27 |page=556}}</ref> Succession law had unique traits, as the eldest son inherited the father's main residence, while the rest of the property was shared among siblings, daughters inheriting half as much as sons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.charles-tait.co.uk/guide/udal_law.html |title=Udal law |author= |date=2002 |website=charles-tait.co.uk |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060210015314/http://www.charles-tait.co.uk/guide/udal_law.html |archive-date=10 February 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Several significant aspects of udal law are not seen elsewhere in the UK:

#While in the rest of Britain ownership of land extends only to the high water mark (where the Crown is deemed to own what lies below it), in Orkney and Shetland it extends to the lowest astronomical tide.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.udallaw.com/ |title=Wake Up Scotland! |author= |website=udallaw.com |publisher=Shetland & Orkney Udal Law Group |access-date=2004-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050123154951/http://udallaw.com/ |archive-date=2005-01-23 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dundee.ac.uk/geography/s008.pdf |title= Research Summary: Udal law and coastal property ownership |author= |date=2002 |publisher=University of Dundee |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050224005623/http://www.dundee.ac.uk/geography/s008.pdf |archive-date=24 February 2005 }}</ref> This caused complications during the development of the North Sea oilfields, for builders of pipelines needed permission from the foreshore owners in order to proceed with their work.<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Norse landing |url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/norse-landing-1-547117 |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=22 February 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603024733/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/norse-landing-1-547117 |archive-date=3 June 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Under the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012,<ref>''Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012'', [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2012/5/contents/enacted 2012 asp 5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410191611/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2012/5/contents/enacted |date=2017-04-10 }}</ref> entry of title onto the Land Register of Scotland must include a cadastral plan,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.ros.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/11386/General_Guidance_CM_water_boundaries.pdf|title= The cadastral map{{em dash}}the land register and land covered by water|author= |date= 17 June 2016|publisher= Registers of Scotland|access-date= 16 March 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170317233426/https://www.ros.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/11386/General_Guidance_CM_water_boundaries.pdf|archive-date= 17 March 2017|url-status= dead}}</ref> but the foreshore on such plans needs only to be drawn at the mean low water mark of ordinary spring tides.<ref name="ULOS">{{cite web |url=https://rosdev.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=74548536 |title=Udal Law and the Foreshore in Orkney & Shetland |author= |date=13 March 2017 |publisher=Registers of Scotland |access-date=16 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317144349/https://rosdev.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=74548536 |archive-date=17 March 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Where udal title exists, an appropriate note must be inserted on the plan to indicate that title extends to the lowest ebb.<ref name="ULOS"/> #Swans, which are the property of the Crown elsewhere in the UK, are the property of the people in Orkney and Shetland.<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=Sir Peter's taste for swan has him fall foul of law |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/sir-peter-s-taste-for-swan-has-him-fall-foul-of-law-1-740320 |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=19 March 2005 |access-date=December 11, 2024 |archive-date=25 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725172726/http://www.scotsman.com/news/sir-peter-s-taste-for-swan-has-him-fall-foul-of-law-1-740320 }}</ref>

==Modern land reform== The Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 extinguished any remaining obligations to pay skat (ignoring whatever vestigial or forgotten laws not in effect), effective 28 November 2004.<ref name="L32ROS">{{cite web |url=https://rosdev.atlassian.net/wiki/display/2ARM/Udal+Tenure |title=Legal Manual - L32: Udal Tenure |author= |date=21 July 2015 |publisher=Registers of Scotland |access-date=7 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418045606/https://rosdev.atlassian.net/wiki/display/2ARM/Udal+Tenure |archive-date=18 April 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979 (as amended by the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003) provides that, as of 1 April 2003, first registration will be required on any transfer of an interest in udal tenure that had not previously been entered in the Land Register, as real rights can only be obtained by registration.<ref name="L32ROS"/>

==Further reading== * {{cite book |editor-last= Chisholm|editor-first= J.|last=Drever |first=W. P. |date=1900 |title=Green's Encyclopaedia of the Law of Scotland|volume=XIII|pages=28–38|chapter=Udal Law |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/greensencyclopae13chis/page/n39|location=Edinburgh |publisher=William Green & Sons }} * {{cite journal |last1=Drever |first1=W. P. |date=1904 |title=Udal Law and the Foreshore |url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jure16&div=16&id=&page= |journal=The Juridical Review |volume=16 |pages=189 }}{{subscription required}} * {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Michael R. H. |date=1996 |title=Shetland's Northern Links: Language & History |chapter=Perceptions of Udal Law in Orkney and Shetland |chapter-url=https://ssns.org.uk/resources/Documents/Books/ShetlandNL_1996/14_Jones_ShetlandNL_1996_pp_186-204.pdf |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Scottish Society for Northern Studies |pages=186–204 |isbn=0-95059949-2 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181017001847/https://ssns.org.uk/resources/Documents/Books/ShetlandNL_1996/14_Jones_ShetlandNL_1996_pp_186-204.pdf|archive-date=17 October 2018}} * {{cite thesis |last=Linklater |first=Eileen |date=2002 |title=Udal Law – Past, Present and Future? |type=LLB (Hons) |publisher=University of Strathclyde |url=http://www.udallaw.com/downloads/dissertation.pdf }} * {{cite journal |last=Ryder |first=Jane |date=1988 |title=Udal Law: An Introduction |url=http://ssns.org.uk/resources/Documents/NorthernStudies/Vol25/Ryder_1988_Vol_25_pp_1_20.pdf |journal=Northern Studies |publisher=Scottish Society for Northern Studies |location=Edinburgh |volume=25 |pages=1–20 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181017042950/http://ssns.org.uk/resources/Documents/NorthernStudies/Vol25/Ryder_1988_Vol_25_pp_1_20.pdf|archive-date=17 October 2018|url-status= dead}} * {{cite BAILII |litigants=Lord Advocate v University of Aberdeen & Budge |link= |court=ScotCS |scotcase=IH |year=1963 |num=1 |reporter=SC |firstpage=533 |parallelcite=1963 SLT 361 |date=2 August 1963}}

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== * {{cite web |url= http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/udallaw.htm|title= What is the future for udal law?|last1= Anderson|first1= Richard N. M.|date= 2001|website= orcadian.co.uk|publisher= Orcadian News Archives|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110614014856/http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/udallaw.htm|archive-date= 14 June 2011|url-status= dead}}

Category:Scots law Category:Scottish coast and countryside Category:Orkney Category:Shetland Category:Legal codes Category:Law of the Isle of Man Category:Scandinavian Scotland Category:Medieval Scots law