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The Law and Urban Change: Some Nineteenth-Century Scottish Evidence*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

Richard Rodger
Richard Rodger
Affiliation:
Department of Economic History, University of Liverpool
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Extract

The constitutional change which was embodied in the Union of Parliaments in 1707 provided for the retention of distinctive Scottish codes governing banking, the church and the law. Such a guarantee ensured that the economic, social and cultural idiosyncracies of Scotland would not be absorbed or Anglicized, and that in the long term the unique institutional framework would continue to stamp its character upon most aspects of daily Scottish life, urban and rural. The tacit acceptance of these legal and institutional differences in certain parts of the kingdom became compounded over the decades so that attempts to modify most aspects of Scottish urban life required separate treatment rather than an extension of British Statutes. Indeed tables of parliamentary statutes in most years display a significant number of purely Scottish bills, thereby reflecting the necessity of specialized legal draughtsmanship, skilled in the peculiarities of Scots law, to accommodate the changes desired north of the border. Two important consequences of these arrangements are worth noting. First, the basis of the Scottish legal and administrative structure was distinct, and second, to amend that framework, separate Scottish bills were frequently required, and thus the timing, coverage and intent of the law were at variance with the remainder of the country.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History Yearbook , Volume 6 , May 1979 , pp. 77 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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Footnotes

*

I am indebted to the late Professor H. J. Dyos for his encouragement and advice, which were essential to the writing of this article.

References

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24. Ibid., 59.

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29. The Builder, 26 April 1879; Presbytery of Glasgow Commission on the Housing of the Poor in relation to their Social Condition (1891), Report, 7; The Builder, 28 Sept. 1878.

30. R.C. 1884–5, D. Crawford, Q. 18, 475; S. Chisholm, ‘The history and results of the Glasgow City Improvement Trust’ Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, xxvii (1895–6), 39–56. Municipal housebuilding was considered a ‘dernier ressort’ for some time prior to a more adventurous policy, subsequently labelled ‘municipal socialism’. See also R.C. 1884–5, J. K. Crawford, Q. 18, 727–9, and Laing, Q. 20, 515–32, on these points. For the role of local authorities, see Allan, op. cit., 606–7.

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53. Chalmers, op. cit.; Census of Scotland, Cd. 6097–1 (1911), City of Glasgow: Boundary extensions included Springburn, Possil, Gilmorehill, Alexandra Park (1872); Coplandhill (1878); Hillhead, Maryhill, Govanhill, Crosshill, Pollockshields (1891); Bellahouston (1896); Blackhill (1899); Kinning Park (1905); Corkerhill (1909); and Govan and Partick (1912).

54. Royal Commission on Local Taxation in Scotland, C. 7575 (1894).

55. Glasgow Herald, 18 Oct. 1913. Report of the municipal financial year 1912–13 showed that in 190 Scottish burghs ‘agricultural’ acreages accounted for 37 per cent of the total burghal area, yet yielded only 0.31 per cent of the total rates. S.L.E.C, 480–2: in Clydebank, in 1912–13, agricultural land formed 30.6 per cent of the burghal area, and paid 1.82 per cent of the rates; in Paisley, 31.1 per cent accounted for 5.37 per cent of rates.

56. Royal Commission on the Classification and Incidence of Imperial and Local Taxes, etc., C. 9528, 1899; Marshall, op. cit. 115.

57. The Builder, 24 March 1877.

58. Departmental Committee on House-Letting in Scotland, Cd. 3715, 1907, Report, 3–6.

59. S.L.E.C, 476–7; Parochial Assessment Act, 1836,6 and 7 Will. iv, C 96. The 1886 Act (49 and 50 Vict.C. 50) amended an Act of 1881 which had applied the principle of yearly lets to rural housing. The intention to continue a let had to be intimated by 2 February, effectively adding a few months to the yearly period.

60. Departmental Committee, 1907, QQ. 5, 815, 5, 860, 6, 814, 6, 817, 7, 299, 7, 300, 8, 589. Landlords' preference to leave housing empty rather than to introduce a shorter tenure clearly shows the entrenched position and effect of the laws on yearly lets, as well as the effect of the law rendering even empty property liable for rates. See Walker, A., Liability of Owners of Unlet Property for Owners' Assessments (1908).Google Scholar

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67. G.M.C., Binnie, QQ. 6, 549, 6, 554.

68. 26 April 1897.

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72. Ibid., 54.