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Scots Law News

Document Cited authorities 17 Cited in Related
Vincent
Pages185-192
Published date01 May 2010
Date01 May 2010
DOI10.3366/elr.2010.0001
There's gold in them thar hills …

The Scots law of treasure trove sprang back to public attention on 4 November 2009 with the news that an amateur treasure hunter's find of prehistoric gold jewellery in a field somewhere near Blair Drummond in Stirlingshire was now in the custody of the Treasure Trove Unit, with the finder expected to benefit from a substantial reward of at least a six-figure sum.

But Scots Law News understands that the treasure trove system is under some pressure at present. In the past it has always been taken to be superior to the English system, both in having a much wider definition of “treasure”, not limited to precious metals, and in the inducement it offers to report findings to the treasure trove authorities through the prospect of reward even for non-precious finds. It appears, however, that the rate of reporting finds in Scotland has fallen well behind that in England, where the system in force since 1997, known as the Portable Antiquities Scheme (http://www.finds.org.uk/), seems to have been very successful. This is a voluntary scheme for reporting objects which do not qualify as treasure. When a find is reported, a liaison officer examines and records it, and provides the finder with information. Despite the absence of a reward for non-precious material, the system is working well from a general archaeological point of view. And it works with treasure as well: the recent discovery of an Anglo-Saxon gold hoard in Staffordshire was apparently first reported to the authorities under the Portable Antiquities Scheme. So another cherished and ancient piece of Scots law looks to be under challenge and in need of review.

 The Ure Elder Fund for Indigent Widow Ladies

Since the Scottish Parliament started business in 1999 it has passed ten private Acts. The Parliament has a special private bill procedure. As private bills are introduced to further the private interests of the bill's promoter, objections are permissible and it is for Parliament to arbitrate between promoters and objectors.

Most of the private Acts have related to transport developments, including the Airdrie-Bathgate Railway and Linked Improvements Act 2007, Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Act 2007, Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Act 2006, Edinburgh Tram (Line Two) Act 2006, Glasgow Airport Rail Link Act 2007, Stirling – Alloa – Kincardine Railway and Linked Improvements Act 2004, and Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act 2006. A couple relate to development issues (Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Act 2003 and the National Galleries of Scotland Act 2003), and one relates to the transfer of assets from a statutory charitable trust, the Baird Trust Reorganisation Act 2005.

The Scottish Parliament is currently considering the Ure Elder Fund Transfer and Dissolution Bill. This relates to the Ure Elder Fund for Indigent Widow Ladies, which was established in 1906. The fund was established on the death of Isabella Elder (http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH0024&type=P), a philanthropist who laid out a public park (Elder Park) for the people of Govan, established a School for Domestic Economy, and built and financed the Elder Cottage Hospital and Elder Free Library in the area. Mrs Elder had been an advocate of women's education, gifting North Park House to Queen Margaret College – the first college to provide higher education to women in Scotland. In 1890 she agreed to finance courses of study at the college's new School of Medicine. The QMC subsequently merged with Glasgow University, and in 1894 its medical school produced Scotland's first women graduates in Medicine.

The fund allowed for an annual grant of £25 – £2,300 in modern prices – to impoverished widows resident in Govan or elsewhere in Glasgow. In order to enable the trustees to carry out the aim of providing assistance and relieving poverty today, the trustees are promoting a bill to lift the payment cap and widen eligibility to receive help.

 Ur Duthchas, or native title in the Scottish Highlands?

Public Petition PE1297, now before the Scottish Parliament (http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/pdfs/PE1297.pdf), asserts the existence of a form of land tenure in the Scottish Highlands hitherto un-noticed in the standard works on property law in Scotland.

The petition is brought by Ranald Alasdair MacDonald of Keppoch, chief of his clan, and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to investigate Scottish land ownership and tenure under the “Duthchas/Duthchaich” system of land tenure. The petition does not go into the details of the tenure but makes an analogy with udal tenure in Orkney and Shetland, mainly so as to argue that, as the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc...

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