A Square Foot of Old Scotland: Ownership of Souvenir Plots
Date | 01 September 2015 |
Published date | 01 September 2015 |
DOI | 10.3366/elr.2015.0301 |
Pages | 393-398 |
In May 1971 Sir Geoffrey Howe, then the Solicitor-General for England and Wales, addressed the Second Reading Committee of the House of Commons on the Land Registration and Land Charges Bill. He stated: Hansard: HC Debate 19 May 1971, cols 1466–1467. a trade has grown up in recent years in order to please tourists mainly from North America and sometimes to please those North Americans who still live over there, whereby they are able to purchase a ‘square foot of Old England’ for a comparatively modest sum. Ibid col 1467. [o]n a modest scale, I suppose it helps the balance of payments and it gladdens the hearts of our continental cousins and enables them to obtain a splendidly medieval looking deed of title, which, no doubt, they display at some appropriate place in their homes.
The solution, namely the resulting Land Registration and Land Charges Act 1971 and the Regulations issued under it which are applicable only to England and Wales, was that the Chief Land Registrar could declare areas of land subject to a “souvenir land scheme”. Under this scheme the transfer of a souvenir plot was exempted from the requirement of registration and such transfer took effect as if the land was not registered, meaning that ownership could be acquired without registration. Land Registration and Land Charges Act 1971 ss 4(1)(d) and (e). On unregistered land in England see C Harpum, S Bridge and M Dixon, any piece of land which, being of inconsiderable size and little or no practical utility, is unlikely to be wanted in isolation except for the sake of pure ownership or for sentimental reasons or commemorative purposes. Hansard: HC Debate 19 May 1971, col 1468.
Section 4(2)(b) of the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979, in the shadow of the 1971 Act, used a very similar definition of “souvenir plot”,
Interestingly, the conjunctive “and” in the wording “inconsiderable size and no practical utility” was replaced by a disjunctive “or”. Recent Scottish reform, discussed below, has reverted to using “and”.
albeit with a different effect. The provisions of the 1979 Act prohibited the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland from accepting an application for registration if it related to a souvenir plot. Hence those who purchased souvenir plots could not register their titles in the Land Register. They could not obtain the real right of ownership to the land. The only right they had was a personal right against the seller of the plot. The first edition of thenot evidence of a stuffy bureaucracy. A scheme to sell off 1000 one square foot plots and register the titles thereto would employ the Keeper and his staff, public servants, in a way which could be detrimental to the expeditious registration of the titles of those whose interest was practical rather than sentimental or commemorative.
Discussion Paper on
Para 4.32.
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