Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production particular to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were established on the better land, and a large area of poorer-quality hill ground was shared by all the crofters of the township for grazing of their livestock. In the 21st century, crofting is found predominantly in the rural Western and Northern Isles and in the coastal fringes of the western and northern Scottish mainland.
Modern stack of drying pattern-laid machine-cut peat turfs in Ness, the Outer Hebrides (2007). Traditional crofting involved heavy labour to make hand-cut turfs using wood-handled metal peat-cutters with a blade set at 90 degrees (a tushkar).
The coast south of Duntulm (1986) where barren high land is broken at lower level by farmable areas. The beach is bouldered. Housing is limited.
Croft in Upper Ardelve, a Highland settlement on Loch Alsh (2007). Image shows farmhouse behind a modest livestock shed. Cows graze the rear fields.
Crofting land of Fair Isle (1974). Image taken in August shows hay stacked in traditional stooks ready to be gathered and kept to feed livestock in the winter months.
In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land "owned" by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individuals. It determines who can use land, for how long and under what conditions. Tenure may be based both on official laws and policies, and on informal local customs. In other words, land tenure implies a system according to which land is held by an individual or the actual tiller of the land but this person does not have legal ownership.
It determines the holder's rights and responsibilities in connection with their holding. The sovereign monarch, known in England as the Crown, held land in its own right. All land holders are either its tenants or sub-tenants. Tenure signifies a legal relationship between tenant and lord, arranging the duties and rights of tenant and lord in relationship to the land. Over history, many different forms of land tenure, i.e., ways of holding land, have been established.
Parallel registration of Flexible Land Tenure Rights
Land Hold Title Rights Blockerf