1886 - Achd nan Croitear (1886)- Crofters Acts – and Security of Tenure

The Highland Land Law Reform Association supported candidates in Parliamentary elections and four ‘Crofters Party’ MPs were elected
in 1886. The new Liberal administration passed the first Crofters Act encompassing the Napier proposals and most of the HLLRA amendments. The Crofters’ Holdings (Scotland) Acts 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1891 constitute to this day the basis of crofting law.

1886 Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act

provided for all crofters in the seven crofting counties of Shetland, Orkney, Ross and Cromarty, Caithness, Sutherland, Inverness and Argyll

  • –  security of tenure
  • –  the right to judicially reviewed rents
  • –  the right to bequeath tenancy
  • –  the right to compensation for permanent improvements

Crofting land consists of individual crofts tenanted by crofting
tenants organised into townships which collectively share a large area of common grazings.

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