Land Registration (Scotland) Act 1979

28 Interpretation, etc. S

(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

• “deed” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the M1 Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1868, section 3 of the M2 Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874 and section 2 of the M3 Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1924;

• “feu” includes blench holding and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

• “heritable security” has the same meaning as in section 9(8) of the M4 Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970;

• “incorporeal heritable right” does not include a right to salmon fishings;

• “interest in land” means any estate, interest, servitude or other heritable right in or over land, including a heritable security but excluding a lease which is not a long lease;

• “the Keeper” has the meaning assigned by section 1(2) of this Act;

• “land” includes buildings and other structures and land covered with water;

• “long lease” means a probative lease—

  (a)

  exceeding 20 years; or

  (b)

  which is subject to any provision whereby any person holding the interest of the grantor is under a future obligation, if so requested by the grantee, to renew the lease so that the total duration could (in terms of the lease, as renewed, and without any subsequent agreement, express or implied, between the persons holding the interests of the grantor and the grantee) extend for more than 20 years;

• “overriding interest” means, subject to sections 6(4) and 9(4) of this Act, in relation to any interest in land, the right or interest over it of—

  (a)

  the lessee under a lease which is not a long lease;

  (b)

  the lessee under a long lease who, prior to the commencement of this Act, has acquired a real right to the subjects of the lease by virtue of possession of them;

  (c)

  a crofter or cottar within the meaning of section 3 or 28(4) respectively of the M5 Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955, or a landholder or statutory small tenant within the meaning of section 2(2) or 32(1) respectively of the M6 Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911;

  (d)

  the proprietor of the dominant tenement in a servitude;

  (e)

  the Crown or any Government or other public department, or any public or local authority, under any enactment or rule of law, other than an enactment or rule of law authorising or requiring the recording of a deed in the Register of Sasines or registration in order to complete the right or interest;

  (ee)

  [F1 the operator having a right conferred in accordance with paragraph 2, 3 or 5 of Schedule 2 to the Telecommunications Act 1984 (agreements for execution of works, obstruction of access. etc.);]

  (ef)

  [F2 a licence holder within the meaning of Part I of the Electricity Act 1989 having such a wayleave as is mentioned in paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 to that Act (wayleaves for electric lines), whether granted under that paragraph or by agreement between the parties;

  (eg)

  a licence holder within the meaning of Part I of the Electricity Act 1989 who is authorised by virtue of paragraph 1 of Schedule 5 to that Act to abstract, divert and use water for a generating station wholly of or mainly driven by water.]

• [F3 (eh) insofar as it is an interest vesting by virtue of section 7(3) of the Coal Industry Act 1994, the Coal Authority;]

  (f)

  the holder of a floating charge whether or not the charge has attached to the interest;

  (g)

  a member of the public in respect of any public right of way or in respect of any right held inalienably by the Crown in trust for the public;

  (gg)

  [F4 the non-entitled spouse within the meaning of section 6 of the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981;]

  (h)

  any person, being a right which has been made real, otherwise than by the recording of a deed in the Register of Sasines or by registration; or

  (i)

  any other person under any rule of law relating to common interest or joint or common property, not being a right or interest constituting a real right, burden or condition entered in the title sheet of the interest in land under section 6(1)(e) of this Act or having effect by virtue of a deed recorded in the Register of Sasines,

  but does not include any subsisting burden or condition enforceable against the interest in land and entered in its title sheet under section 6(1) of this Act;

• “the register” and “registered” have the meanings assigned to them respectively by subsections (1) and (3) of section 1 of this Act;

• “Register of Sasines” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the M7 Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1924;

• “transfer” includes transfer by operation of law.

(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

Textual Amendments

F1 Para. (ee) inserted by Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12, SIF 96), s. 109(1), Sch. 4 Para. 71, Sch. 5 para. 45

F2 Paras. (ef)(eg) inserted by Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29, SIF 44:1), s. 112(1)(3), Sch. 16 para. 23, Sch. 17 paras. 33, 35

F3 S. 28(1)(eh) inserted (31.10.1994) by 1994 c. 21, ss. 67(1), 68(2), Sch. 9 para. 20 (with s. 40(7)); S.I. 1994/2553, art. 2.

F4 Para. (gg)inserted by Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981 (c. 59, SIF 49:6), s. 6(4)(c)

F5 S. 28(2) repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1981 (c. 19), Sch. 1 Pt. IV

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 28 modified (24.3.1994) by 1994 c. i, s. 1, Sch. Pt. III s. 14(3) (with ss. 29, 30, 34).

C2 S. 28 modified (24.3.1994) by 1994 c. ii, s. 1, Sch. Pt. III s. 12(2)(3) (with s. 28)

C3 S. 28 modified (24.3.1994) by 1994 c. iii, s. 1, Sch. Pt. III s. 13(3) (with ss. 27, 32)

C4 S. 28(1): definition of "interest in land" applied by Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 (c. 29, SIF 124:4), s. 1(6)(b)

Marginal Citations

M1 1868 c. 101.

M2 1874 c. 94.

M3 1924 c. 27.

M4 1970 c. 35.

M5 1955 c. 21.

M6 1911 c. 49.

M7 1924 c. 27.