Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1955 c. 21
Year1955


Crofters (Scotland) Act , 1955

(3 & 4 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 21

An Act to make provision for the reorganisation, development and regulation of crofting in the crofting counties of Scotland; to authorise the making of grants and loans for the development of agricultural production on crofts and the making of grants and loans towards the provision of houses and buildings for crofters, cottars and others of like economic status; to re-enact the provisions of the Landholders Acts with respect to cottars; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Establishment of Crofters Commission

Establishment of Crofters Commission

S-1 Constitution and general functions of Crofters Commission.

1 Constitution and general functions of Crofters Commission.

(1) There shall be constituted a Commission to be called ‘the Crofters Commission’ (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the Commission’) which shall have the functions of reorganising, developing and regulating crofting in the crofting counties of Scotland, of promoting the interests of crofters there and of keeping under review matters relating to crofting, and such other functions as are conferred on them by or under this Act.

(2) The Commission shall carry out their functions in accordance with such directions of a general character as may be given by the Secretary of State and in carrying out their functions shall have regard to local circumstances and conditions.

(3) The Commission shall consist of not more than six members appointed by the Secretary of State, and of the members one shall be appointed by the Secretary of State to be chairman of the Commission.

(4) The Commission shall include members with knowledge of crofting conditions and at least one member who can speak the Gaelic language.

(5) The provisions contained in the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the Commission.

S-2 Particular powers and duties of the Commission.

2 Particular powers and duties of the Commission.

(1) In the exercise of their general functions of reorganising, developing and regulating crofting, it shall be the duty of the Commission:—

(a ) to keep under general review all matters relating to crofts and crofting conditions, including, without prejudice to the foregoing generality, land settlement, the improvement of land and livestock, the planting of trees, the supply of agricultural equipment and requisites, the marketing of agricultural produce, experimental work on crofting methods, the provision of demonstration crofts, the needs of the crofting communities for public services of all kinds, the provision of social amenities and the need for industries to provide supplementary occupations for crofters or work for their families; and to make such recommendations as they may think fit on any of the matters aforesaid;

(b ) to collaborate so far as their powers and duties permit with any body or person in the carrying out of any measures for the economic development and social improvement of the crofting counties;

(c ) to advise the Secretary of State on any matter relating to crofts and crofting conditions which he may refer to them, or on which they may think fit to submit advice to him;

(d ) to exercise the powers conferred on them by this Act in such manner as may seem to them in each case desirable.

(2) For the purpose of assisting them in the local execution of their functions under this Act, the Commission shall have power to appoint a panel of suitable persons resident in the crofting counties to act as assessors, when required by the Commission so to act, and may make to such assessors in respect of any loss of earnings they would otherwise have made or any additional expenses (including travelling and subsistence expenses) to which they would not otherwise have been subject, being loss or expenses necessarily suffered or incurred by them for the purpose of enabling them to perform duties as such assessors, such payments as the Secretary of State may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.

(3) The Commission shall send to the sheriff-clerk to be recorded in the Crofters Holdings Book every order, determination, consent, authorisation or other proceeding of theirs which they may think proper to be recorded therein; and the provisions of section twenty-seven of the Act of 1886 shall apply in relation thereto as they apply in relation to orders of the Land Court.

(4) The Commission shall make an annual report to the Secretary of State on the exercise and performance by them of their functions under this Act, and the Secretary of State shall lay a copy of the report before each House of Parliament, together with such comments as he may think fit to make.

Crofting Tenure

Crofting Tenure

S-3 Definition of ‘croft’ and ‘crofter’, and conditions of tenure of crofter.

3 Definition of ‘croft’ and ‘crofter’, and conditions of tenure of crofter.

(1) In this Act the expression ‘croft’ means—

(a ) as from the commencement of this Act, every holding (whether occupied by a landholder or not) situate in the crofting counties which was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, a holding to which any of the provisions of the Landholders Acts relating to landholders applied;

(b ) as from the commencement of this Act, every holding situate as aforesaid which was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, a holding to which the provisions of the Landholders Acts relating to statutory small tenants applied;

(c ) as from the date of registration, every holding situate as aforesaid which is constituted a croft by the registration of the tenant thereof as a crofter under section four of this Act.

(2) In this Act the expression ‘crofter’ means the tenant of a croft.

(3) A crofter shall not be subject to be removed from the croft of which he is tenant except—

(a ) where one year's rent of the croft is unpaid;

(b ) in consequence of the breach of one or more of the conditions set out in the Second Schedule to this Act (in this Act referred to as ‘the statutory conditions’), other than the condition as to payment of rent; or

(c ) in pursuance of any enactment, including any enactment contained in this Act.

(4) Any contract or agreement made by a crofter by virtue of which he is deprived of any right conferred on him by any provision of this Act shall to that extent be void unless the contract or agreement is approved by the Land Court.

(5) For the purposes of this Act any right in pasture or grazing land held or to be held by the tenant of a croft, whether alone or in common with others, shall be deemed to form part of the croft.

S-4 Registration of crofters.

4 Registration of crofters.

(1) The landlord and the tenant of any holding of which the annual rent does not exceed fifty pounds or of which the area does not exceed fifty acres (exclusive of any common pasture or grazing held or to be held therewith) may make joint application to the Land Court for the registration of the tenant of the holding as a crofter, and on such application the tenant shall be so registered; and where any such holding as aforesaid is constituted under any enactment authorising the Secretary of State to constitute new holdings and the Secretary of State makes application to the Land Court for the registration of the tenant of the holding as a crofter, the tenant shall be so registered.

(2) Not more than one person shall be registered as a crofter in respect of any holding.

(3) The procedure in connection with applications under this Act for registration as a crofter shall be such as may be provided by rules of the Land Court.

(4) Registration of a crofter under this Act shall be constituted by an order of the Land Court authorising his registration duly recorded, with the application on which it proceeds, in the Crofters Holdings Book.

S-5 Rent.

5 Rent.

(1) The rent payable by a crofter as one of the statutory conditions shall be the yearly rent, including money and any prestations other than money, payable for the year current at the commencement of this Act or, in the case of a croft let after the commencement of this Act, fixed at the date of the letting, unless and until that rent is altered in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(2) The rent may be altered by agreement in writing between the landlord and the crofter to such amount and for such period as may be so agreed; and thereupon the rent so agreed shall be the rent payable by the crofter so long as the agreement subsists and thereafter so long as—

(a ) no new agreement between the landlord and the crofter shall have been made; or

(b ) no different rent shall have been fixed by the Land Court under this Act.

(3) The Land Court may, on the application of the crofter or the landlord, determine what is a fair rent to be paid by the crofter to the landlord for the croft, and may pronounce an order accordingly; and the rent so fixed by the Land Court shall be the rent payable by the crofter as from the first term of Whitsunday or Martinmas next succeeding the decision of the Land Court:

Provided that—

(a ) where the rent payable for the croft has been fixed by the Land Court it shall not be altered, except by mutual agreement between the crofter and the landlord, for a period of seven years from the term at which it first became payable; and

(b ) where a croft is let after the commencement of this Act, the rent shall not be altered by the Land Court for a period of seven years...

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