Medieval terminology dominates much of the house conveyancing language of the twentieth century in Scotland. Getting my head around some of it has been the result of research at the Glasgow Archives in the Mitchell Library and also examining the title deed of my house that I now have in my possession. I will try and explain things as I describe my reading of the original title deed to my house in Earlspark Avenue.
Title of the Disposition on the back page (photo by the Author)
The document is called a Disposition, the disposal of the property and land from one person to another. My title deed is the first legal document signed by the builder after he ‘disposes’ of the property to the first purchaser, who, in this case is Miss Agnes Scott.
Front page of the Disposition (photo by the Author)
The document, handwritten throughout on a quality paper has a backing paper made of a woven material. The water mark reads Hodgkinson and Co 190. This is the name of the manufacturer and the weight of the paper. It was a high quality paper for writing a legal document or drawing and painting. Hodgkinson was a famous paper mill in Wookey Hole in Somerset that closed down in 1972. When it closed down 8000 sheets of paper were saved from being pulped . This site, VintagePaper.Co has a history of Hodgkinson and can still sell you sheets of this paper, at a price!
The document is written in what was originally called Round Hand which became known during the 19th Century as Copper Plate. The solicitor’s clerk had a simple writing style, as though he or she might have been writing a letter. Whereas the clerk at the Keeper of the Register of Sasines in Edinburgh, who wrote down the side of the front page, had a slightly ornate approach. In fact, the clerk was a man because he is mentioned in the document, “…..these presents written on this and the proceeding page by John Ferguson Muir, Apprentice to Carruthers Gemmell and McKillop, Writers, Glasgow…”
Solicitors in Scotland were previously known as Writers and John Muir would have been an articled clerk. Carruthers Gemmell and McKillop were founded in 1870 as family solicitors. Their office was at 62 Bath Street, Glasgow. McKillop was dropped from the title and the firm still practices in Bath Street at number 82.
Working through this document I am able to confirm a lot of information that I had previously been researching in the Glasgow Archives and the Scottish Census returns. It starts “ I, George Anderson, Builder, Newlands, Glasgow….” In fact George was a prolific builder on a major scale in Newlands and Shawlands, the adjacent town. Many streets in this area of South Glasgow were built with terraces and villas by George. He lived just around the corner from Earlspark Avenus at a large turreted house on Newlands Road. George will be deserving a post in his own right in the future.
Next we come to Miss Agnes Scott. I emphasise her title as the document does because her status has a bearing on what would happen if she was to marry. George hereby sells, assigns and and disposes to Agnes and her heirs and assignees but exclusive always of the jus mariti courtesy and right of administration of any husband she may marry…
Jus Mariti was the right in Scottish law by which the husband acquires to himself absolutely the personal property of his wife. It is almost as if the law needed to remind Agnes Scott that this was the price of her independence.
The body of the title deed outlines in precise measurements, the exact size of the plot and that the building sits on and makes reference several times to the Feu Contract.
Feu Contract, otherwise known as Feu Charter, was traditionally in Scotland a new document that would create a new feu – a feu being the most common form of land tenure in Scotland. It held that the tenure was held in perpetuity in return for a continuity fee (feu) paid to the landowner. In this instance, the land in Earlspark Avenue had been purchased by George Anderson in 1908 and he had become the first “fuar”. The land had belonged to Sir John Maxwell Stirling- Maxwell of Pollok, Baronet. He and his family were the last to live in what is now Pollok House in Pollok Park, now owned by the National Trust. All the land along the River Cart was farmland and Stirling Maxwell was selling large pockets off but retained the historical right to claim a feu duty, a sort of ground rent, from each and every plotholder or house owner.
There is an amendment to the title deed that indicates that the feu duty was being collected now by Nether Pollok Estates Ltd, a company set up by Maxwell Stirling to manage and collect the feu duties. It looks as though Agnes Scott was expected to pay £2/ 3 /10d. per year or quarter, I need to confirm this. Think of the land that was sold off and the number of houses that were built upon it – the company was making good profit for no apparent service.
The Feu Charter that was prepared for George Anderson by Maxwell Stirling in 1908 is a 24 page handwritten legal document that will be the subject of a future post.
This brings me to Sasines. Sasine in Scots law is the delivery of feudal property, typically land. Over time, sasine came to be used in common speech as a reference to the deed recording the transfer, rather the transfer itself.
So, returning to the disposition. In 1858 each disposition had to be recorded in the Register of Sasines – in this case, the one pertaining to Renfrew, the county in which Newlands was in at that time. The Sasine Register was based upon detailed written descriptions of properties – unlike the modern Land Register which is map based.
No 7 has changed hands nine times since George Anderson built and sold it. Two of those changes were dispositions caused by the death of a sibling or partner, so seven householders or families have lived in this house since 1910. Until registration with the Scottish Land Registry did away with the need for title deeds, the document I have been explaining in this post has been the sole proof of ownership and was kept in safe custody within a lawyers or banks safe. But, it is not just a historical legal document, it is the creator of a story that has many chapters.
George Anderson’s signature on the Disposition (photo by the Author)