By REV. N. MACINTYRE.
I BEG leave to submit the following report submitted to the General Trustees by our Law Agents: “The right of a crofter, or as he is now generally termed, a small landholder, in and to the land occupied by him is entirely different to that
of any other occupier of land in Scotland, and no such right was known in this country prior to 1886. The landholders tenure, is superior to that of a Lease holder, but considerably less than that of a feu or other owner of land. He cannot sell, lease or feu his holding or any part of it, nor can he even assign it without the consent of the owner of the land. He has power to bequeath his interest in the holding but only to a member of his family, except in the case of infirmity or old age, where he can assign the holding with consent of the Land Court. It follows, therefore, that a landholder cannot, without the consent of his landlord, give a legal title to any person who may wish to erect buildings on a part of his holding or on a common grazing. On the other hand the landlord could not sell or feu any portion of the holding without the consent of the landholder except with the authority of the Land Court and on such terms and conditions as the latter should think fit.”