Registers of Scotland
 |
|
| Non-ministerial government department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1617 |
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Headquarters | Meadowbank House, 153 London Road, Edinburgh EH8 7AU |
| Employees | 884 |
| Minister responsible | |
| Non-ministerial government department executive |
|
| Website | www |
Registers of Scotland (RoS) is the non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government responsible for compiling and maintaining records relating to property and other legal documents.
The important element about any system of land tenure is evidence - evidence to support the claim of the person entitled to the land. In the early days of the feudal system this evidence was provided by the ceremony on the ground of giving sasine (from the Old French seiser, "to seize"), the ceremony performed when a feudal grant of land was made.
They currently maintain 17 public registers.
It may be claimed that Scotland was the first country to establish a national system of registration giving rights to the public rather than particular groups. Registers were kept in Edinburgh Castle from about the 13th century. The Register of Sasines (see Sasine), a public register of deeds covering all of Scotland, was set up by an Act of the Scots Parliament in 1617. The records were later moved to the old Parliament House at the end of the 17th century.
In 1765 plans were made to establish a building to house the registers with funds provided from the forfeited Jacobite estates. Robert Adam was commissioned to design the building now known as Register House in Princes Street. As work expanded, the Agency outgrew Register House and moved to the Meadowbank House site in 1976 and as of 2013 occupies additional premises in Glasgow.
The registers were originally set up to give individuals the power to have their rights recorded in an official register and to give legal protection of these rights. Over the years some registers have fallen into disuse and others such as the Register of Sasines still exist today. The Land Register was introduced in 1979, and the Register of Community Interests in Land in 2004. The Land Register is gradually superseding the Sasine Register. Every Registration county is now operational in the Land Register.
...
Wikipedia