§ Order for Committee read.
§ House in Committee.
§ Clause 1.
§ MR. DUNLOPexplained the object of the Bill to be to simplify the laws relating to registration in Scotland, and to extend their operation to the case of long leases. The Bill would only apply to leases of not less than thirty-one years.
§ THE LORD ADVOCATEexpressed his approval of the measure. As the law at present stood the "land rights" in Scotland might be registered either in the register of the county within which the lands were situated or in a general register, and the Bill provided that leases for a period not less than thirty-one years, which were not now subjected to the operation of the law, should be registered in the same way. The Faculty of Advocates objected to the Bill upon the ground that it would interfere with the rights of the landlord, and they had requested him to oppose its further progress, but he did not think that such would be its operation. The effect of the measure would be, he might add, not merely to provide a record of leases open to inspection, but to make long leases of land a proper subject of security for debt, and the landlord could not fairly be said to have any interest in the matter. It had long been his intention to move the issue of a Commission to inquire into the State of the registration in relation to boroughs and counties in Scotland, and he believed considerable improvements might be effected in the present system. That question was one, however, which required some consideration, and he should in the meantime give to the Bill of his hon. and learned Friend his cordial support.
§ Clause agreed to, and the Bill passed through Committee.
§ House resumed.
§ Bill reported; as amended, to be considered on Wednesday, 1st July, and to be printed [Bill 67.]