| Administrative History | The Registers of Sasines are a national record of property transactions which run in a continuous series from 1617, prior to which an incomplete Secretary's Register ran from 1599-1609. Between 1617 and 1869 separate individual county registers were maintained along with a general register which covered the whole country except the three Lothian counties. This system was changed in 1869 to establish one general register arranged in county divisions. Royal Burghs maintained their own burgh registers of sasines.
The registers are still in use as of the present day, although since 1981, they are in the process of being gradually replaced by the Land Register of Scotland (which records ownership of land and property in Scotland).
During the 19th century, the registers themselves had become so large, and legal searches consequently more time consuming, that abridgements began to be published in 1821, going back to 1781 to cover the then 40 year standard period for title searches. The abridgements do not cover the burgh registers of sasines, and although separate person and place indexes were also complied, the indexing of places was abandoned from 1831-1871. |