From the National Archives of Scotland
Document of the month (June)
The Register of Sasines
The image here show two different examples of Sasines
nearly 400 years apart. The first is from the earliest
General Register of Sasines dated 1617 (ref RS1/1). It is
in volume form, is handwritten and in Latin.
Modern Sasine registers, containing exactly the same
information, are held in microfiche format for preservation
and to save storage space. Special microfiche readers in
the
National Archives of
Scotland search rooms mean the tiny typewritten pages
can be read easily and legible copies of them can be
printed.
The word "sasine", which shares the same root as the
English word "seize", refers in Scots law to the transfer
of what is known as 'heritable property' primarily land and
buildings, but also other, geographically fixed, items such
as mineral rights (fundamentally important in parts of
Scotland from the 18th century onwards) and fishing
rights.
The Register of Sasines is an official record of the
transfer of heritable property or of the use of such
property as security for a loan. Heritable property does
not normally include items such as money, works of art or
livestock, which generally fall under the title "moveable
property".
The transfer of land from one owner to another has
always been an important event for the parties concerned.
Prior to 1845, the act of taking possession of a piece of
land in Scotland involved the new owner physically seizing
a symbol of possession, such as a stone or a clump of
earth. As a formal record of the transfer, lawyers or
notaries were employed to draw up instruments of sasine.
Their personal Notarial Protocol Books contain copies or
notes of the documents they drew up.
After 1617 the Registers of Sasine superseded these
books. Into these registers the original agreements were
copied or, after 1934, photocopies were made and bound up
into the register. The original was returned to become part
of the owner's title deeds while these copies were stored
in the archives. Over time some originals have become lost
or are otherwise unavailable and the copy, held at the
National Archives of
Scotland, is then the only evidence of the
transaction.
More information on Sasines.
Researchers interested in transactions involving
moveable property should consult the
Register of Deeds, which is also held at the
National Archives of
Scotland.
May's
Document of the Month: Treaty of Perpetual Peace
News Archive