Wildcat Haven Clashindarroch Forest Project In Private Eye

Independent conservation company Wildcat Haven have for some time been running a campaign to have tree felling in the Clashindarroch forest stopped. They have a huge online petition going and are apparently running a crowdjustice campaign to raise money for legal funding towards that objective.

This month's Private Eye ran an article which includes a section on the Clashindarroch forest campaign, and it seems the issue is far less clear cut than Wildcat Haven claim. You can read the article on Twitter HERE

The Wildcat Haven contention is essentially that the Clashindarroch forest is very possibly the last stronghold of the Scottish wildcat, and that tree felling is destroying their habitat. Which sounds perfectly reasonable, until you hear that there is an opposing view. That opposing view is held by Scottish Wildcat Action, the official Scottish wildcat conservation organisation.  In their view, felling creates open areas which wildcats prefer for hunting, and that controlled felling actually improves the habitat for wildcats. It is their view that stopping felling would create continuous canopy forest which would actually destroy wildcat habitat.

You can read an article on the subject written by Emma Rawling of Scottish Wildcat Action HERE which further explains their views. There is also an article by Forestry and Land Scotland which airs similar views HERE

So who is right? We are not experts in the field of wildcat habitat, but when you think about it, Clashindarroch forest was planted decades ago, and has for many years underdone selective felling. If felling destroys wildcat habitat, how come it is now a wildcat stronghold?

If the scientists at Scottish Wildcat Action are correct but Wildcat Haven still get their way and succeed in stopping felling, it will create a continuous forest canopy, which may destroy the habitat of what is possibly the very last remaining vestige of natural Scottish wildcats anywhere. We can't think that is a good plan if wildcat conservation is your aim.

Highland Titles Wildcat Rehabilitation Facility Can't Sex Cats

On the Highland Titles website on a page about Scottish wildcats they make the following claim. "Highland Titles have built and operate perhaps the finest wildcat rehabilitation facility in Europe.
We have staff and premises to deal with both injured wildcats and abandoned kittens."

You'd think that such an illustrious facility with such expertise would have little difficulty in correctly sexing cats, wouldn't you? Apparently they do. This is an extract of an email sent from Highland Titles to Graeme Taylor of Scottish Natural Heritage and Dr Roo Campbell of Scottish Wildcat Action.

This cat had been in the enclosure on their premises for over a year at this point. What kind of facility which claims to rehabilitate and deal with injured wildcats is not even competent in determining what sex they are? 

It also becomes apparent that because of the failure to correctly sex these cats, Highland Titles themselves consider one of the enclosures they built was unnecessary. That was built using money from their customers and it would seem has been wasted.

While we are here, we might also ask the question, so how many Scottish wildcats has this facility rehabilitated and released? The answer to that is, none, not one. The only animal ever in their possession which may possibly have been pure enough to be determined a Scottish wildcat, escaped from their care before it's identity could be determined by examination under sedation or genetic testing. This is the "wildcat" Highland Titles claim to have released. In our version of English, "escaped" and "released" have distinctly different meaning, and are not interchangeable.

This is an email form Dr Roo Campbell to Highland Titles after being informed the potential wildcat had gone missing.

 "The cat in that enclosure was potentially a wildcat based on the videos you sent (though we’d have wanted to have it inspected more closely under sedation as it might not be)"

The "perhaps the finest" claim seems to be, as is so often the case with Highland Titles, more than a bit of an exaggeration. We wouldn't call a facility which can't correctly sex the animals in it's care, and where the only animal in it's care which potentially may have been a Scottish wildcat escaped before proper identification while claiming it is definitely a wildcat and they released it, "perhaps the finest", would you?

Wildcat Haven Feral Cat Neutering Shocker

Most experts agree that one of the biggest threats to the continued existence of the Scottish Wildcat is hybridisation by interbreeding with hybrid, feral, and domestic cats. To reduce the number of  non wildcats for real wildcats to breed with, Wildcat Haven have informed that they were engaged in a program of neutering feral and domestic cats. They explicitly claimed to be neutering feral cats both on their website to everybody visiting it, and on Twitter to user #htscam.

Have you guessed yet? Yes, there's a problem.

Feral cats can legally be trapped and neutered without legal issues, but as they are classed as a non native species, they can't be legally released without a license. Nobody at Wildcat Haven has possessed a licence to release feral cats since October 2015. If anyone from Wildcat Haven was to release a feral cat, they would presumably be doing so illegally, and may even be committing a criminal offence. So what has been going on?

The Freedom Of Information documents mentioned in our last post may illuminate the matter.  According the FOI documents Wildcat Haven were asked by solicitors Harper Macleod LLP acting for Scottish Natural Heritage the following question.

"Have Wildcat Haven staff/personnel undertaken any cage trapping and releasing of feral cats or wildcats/hybrids since 1/10/2015? If so, how many feral cats or wildcats/hybrids were caught, released and when?"

The response to that question from solicitors Clifford Chance LLP acting for Wildcat Haven is as follows.

"We are instructed that our client has not undertaken trapping or release of feral cats or wildcats/hybrids since 1/10/2015, our client has undertaken neutering of pet cats, for which consent forms from the cats' owners have been provided in every case."

Yet even now Wildcat Haven are claiming on their website "We have done this by humanely trapping feral cats, neutering them and releasing them" and "Neutering programme for all feral cats and low-grade hybrids." A PDF copy of their "What We Do" website page taken on 08/07/2019 can be seen HERE.

If they have not undertaken trapping or release of any feral cats since October 2015 as per instruction to their solicitor, how can Wildcat Haven's claims to be neutering feral cats be true?

Wildcat Haven themselves currently say on their website "The biggest threat to the Scottish Wildcat is hybridisation.  More specifically, when genetically pure wildcats mate with feral cats instead of other wildcats, the gene pool becomes diluted and the species (Felis Sylvestris) literally breeds itself out of existense.".

If they are not actually neutering feral cats, which they claim is the biggest threat to Scottish Wildcats, what is the purpose of the organisation? Why would anybody lend support to an oganisation which is lying about one of it's principal objectives?

Reply to question from Scottish National Heritage

Wildcat Haven claim to have neutered a feral cat on Twitter posted in February 2017

Highland Titles Wildcat Haven And Scottish Wildcat Kittens

In mid 2018 it was widely reported in the media that the company Wildcat Haven CIC had come into possession of three Scottish wildcat kittens. The media published stories indicated that two kittens were found abandoned by the side of a road by a member of the public, and one was trapped by a farmer who’s chickens the kitten had taken an interest in. These purported wildcat kittens were held in three purpose-built enclosures in forestry plantations belonging to Highland Titles.

Highland Titles certainly haven’t been shy about claiming they had Scottish wildcats.  Estate manager Stewart Borland in their own publicity material made a claim that Highland Titles “have three wildcats”. Other quotations from their publicity material include, “video of one of our Wildcats”,  “Wildcat Kittens at the Highland Titles Nature Reserve”,  “Two orphaned Scottish wildcat kittens”,  “we’ve been able to give these two orphaned wildcat kittens a lifeline”,  “a lovely mix of stills & video of the 2018-19 Highland Titles wildcats”, “In June 2018, two wildcat kittens were handed in to our wildlife vet”.

Looks good so far, according to the media reports and publicity, there are now three Scottish wildcat kittens, one of the most endangered species on the planet, in captivity, being rehabilitated for release back to the wild. But as with a lot of things concerning Highland Titles and Wildcat Haven, the media reports and their own publicity material often bear little resemblance to reality.

So, what is the reality? According to information obtained by way of a freedom of information request made to Scottish National Heritage and passed to us by a reader, we discover the following.

Two of the kittens were identified by experts at Scottish Wildcat Action and Scottish National Museum to be hybrids. That is by examining photographs and video footage of the kittens they determined they were hybrid cats, and in their opinion do not meet the criteria to be classed as Scottish wildcats. To date, one of these hybrids has been neutered and released by Highland Titles, the other remains in captivity.

As noted in the SNH FOI request, “Highland Titles has released one neutered hybrid under licence, a second hybrid remains in captivity”.

What of the third kitten? According to the pelage scores performed by Scottish wildcat identification experts at Scottish Wildcat Action and Scottish National Museum, the third cat scored highly, not quite highly enough to be conclusively identified as a Scottish wildcat by examination of the supplied photographs, but highly enough to warrant further investigation and genetic testing. There is a distinct possibility this animal could qualify as being a Scottish wildcat. It shouldn’t be a problem to carry out further identification as the cat in question is in captivity, right?

Unfortunately, as is so often the case where Highland Titles are involved, there’s a problem. According to the documents from SNH, “A third individual, which scored as potentially wildcat based on pelage, escaped from its enclosure”. This is confirmed in correspondence between Highland Titles and Scottish National Heritage. So, according to the SNH documents, the only one of the three kittens which is potentially a wildcat, either escaped or was released from its enclosure, before positive identification could be completed!

To date, despite recapture attempts by Highland Titles, the missing cat has not been secured and is still at large somewhere, but there has been no indication in any reports we can find from either Highland Titles or Wildcat Haven that this cat is missing.

Instead, bizarrely, Highland Titles made the following claim on July 2019 via the Highland Titles Nature Reserve Facebook page. “We are pleased to say that experts agreed that one of the kittens scored highly enough to pass the purity test. This kitten has been released”.

According to the documents we are in possession of we cannot see how this can be true. The only one of the kittens which scored highly, but could not according to experts at SNH and NSM be positively confirmed as a wildcat without further examination, escaped from its enclosure in early June 2019 before identification was competed, and has not been recaptured. So how could any wildcat possibly have been released?

To be clear, despite Highland Titles’ claims, to date as far as can be determined from documents supplied by SNH and correspondence between SNH and Highland Titles, no recognised expert has positively identified any animal in the care of Highland Titles as a Scottish wildcat. The only kitten in their possession which scored highly enough to warrant further investigation and genetic testing, escaped, or was released from its enclosure before identification by experts from Scottish National Heritage and  National Museums Scotland could be completed, and it has not to date been recaptured.

Highland Titles were granted a license to release two feral cats earlier this year. Why would they apply for a license to release feral cats if the cats in question were wildcats? 

To date Highland Titles who claim to “operate perhaps the finest wildcat rehabilitation facility in Europe” cannot realistically claim with any certainty that they have ever had a single actual Scottish wildcat in the facility.

As usual with Highland Titles and Wildcat Haven, it’s wise not to take their claims at face value without independent verification. As is the case here, the claims often fall short of reality, and frequently do not stand up to any real scrutiny.

The pelage scores recorded taken from the FOI request can be seen in the image below, a score of 17 or above indicates that the animal may be classed as a Scottish wildcat, but would likely still require close examination and genetic testing for clear verification.

Expert pelage scoring of the kittens under the care of Highland Titles was performed by Dr Roo Campbell of Scottish Wildcat Action, and Dr Andrew Kitchener from National Museums Scotland.

You can find a blog post about wildcat identification by National Museums Scotland's Andrew Kitchener, Principal Curator of Vertebrates in the Department of Natural Sciences who developed the pelage scoring system HERE 

Highland Titles Founder Peter Bevis Comments On Andy Wightman Crowdfunder

Highland Titles founder Peter Bevis keeps a personal website where he comments, spouts opinion, and generally rambles on various subjects. The writing style results in a rather odious, superior, condescending tome, which we find really quite difficult to read, but occasionally we brace ourselves to have a peek.

Back in March 2018 Mr Bevis wrote some opinion on the upcoming defamation case involving Wildcat Haven Enterprises CIC and Andy Wightman. One piece of comment was about the crowdfunding efforts of Mr Wightman to raise funds for his defense. This is what Peter Bevis wrote.

"What a difference a year makes! Eleven months ago the news of his crowdfunder appeal for a modest £10,000 electrified Twitter.  318 hearts and  592 retweets.  Wow. This year the request for an additional extraordinary £120,000 created a massive social media yawn.  One heart and a comment from Cathy. Hopefully she will be donating the full £120,000 because nobody else appears to be interested."

A pdf copy of the web page as it was at time of writing can be found HERE

Perhaps Mr Bevis would have been better to wait until he knew the final outcome before commenting. In fact Andy Wightman's first crowdfunder raised £61,516  with 1758 supporters in 56 days, and the second £116,417 with 3202 supporters in 28 days. It is obvious that contrary to Mr Bevis' opinion, the support for Mr Wightman has in fact increased substantially from the first crowdfunder, and very nearly reached the £120,000 target.

This does rather call into question the validity and accuracy of any other observations on the page, and indeed the whole website.

If there was a prize for number of words written, we imagine Peter Bevis might be up for an award. If on the other hand the award was for accuracy, we rather think the wooden spoon might be finding a very worthy home.

Highland Titles Advertising Plots In Glencoe Again Even After ASA Ruling

As some may be aware, although Highland Titles use the Scottish place name Glencoe very extensively in their advertising material, they have no real connection to Glencoe. The nearest land they own to Glencoe is some miles away in Duror, which could not by any reasonable measure we can think of, be described as Glencoe.

It didn't surprise us when an Advertising Standards Agency complaint claiming that Highland Titles had been advertising their land as being "in Glencoe" was upheld. According to the complaint this type of advert appeared on search results on two search engines, Dogpile and Yahoo.

In fact it was much more extensive than that. similar adverts were also observed on Google "Buy a Piece of Glencoe" and on Bing "Buy A Plot in Glencoe", and on duckduckgo "Buy a Piece of Glencoe", and on AOL "Buy a Piece of Glencoe", and on Webcrawler "Buy a Piece of Glencoe", and on Ask Jeeves "Buy a Piece of Glencoe", and on Contenko "Buy a Piece of Glencoe".

It's pretty clear that at one time, Highland Titles adverts via multiple agencies incorrectly indicated that consumers could buy a plot from them "in Glencoe" or "of Glencoe" when that was not, and still is not true.

It is disappointing to discover that even after the ASA ruling, they are still doing the same thing. Below is an advert seen via a Google search on 27 November 2017 reading, "Official Highland Titles® - Buy Your Plot In Glencoe Today‎"


Also, on Amazon, on a Highland Titles advert seen on 14th November 2017, members of the public can apparently buy "....10 Square Foot Plot of Land in Lochaber Plus 1 Square Foot in Glencoe". The square foot plot is not in Glencoe.

Highland Titles seller Kilts Wi Hae based in Aberdeenshire advertises Highland Titles plots on Amazon, the advert headline starts "Glencoe Scottish Land Plot", The plots are not in Glencoe.

No Highland Titles land plots to which customers can obtain some sort of contract of personal rights (souvenir plots in Scotland cannot be owned), are in Glencoe. Yet even after an ASA complaint on the matter has been upheld, some Highland Titles advertising and that of at least one third party seller still indicates they are.

The local council address record for Highland Titles in Duror from onesotlandgazetteer is as below. The word "Glencoe" is not in it at all anywhere.

HIGHLAND TITLES NATURE RESERVE, DUROR

HIGHLAND TITLES NATURE RESERVE,
DUROR,
APPIN,
PA38 4BW.

Custodian: Highland
UPRN: 130171119

We can't think this would be the action of any morally responsible organisation. For a company which is apparently owned by an Alderney registered charity and run by trustees of that charity, we think it pretty disgraceful behaviour.

Highland Titles - Scottish Woodland Alliance - 10 Year Tree Planting Pledge Farce

We intended to publish this for #HighlandTitlesDay on 10th Feb 2017, we didn't quite make it, but think a few days late isn't going to change the facts or relevance.

Back in 2007 on their website at lairdswood.org.uk (now defunct), the Scottish Woodland Alliance made the following pledge.

"A major funding pledge from Lochaber Highland Estates (CI) Ltd will enable up to 1,000 hectares of new woodland to be created in Scotland over the next ten years.."

A December 2012 archived copy of the page can be seen HERE.

October 2007 version HERE, so we can date the pledge to this date or before.

So who are The Scottish Woodland Alliance? At last update on 22/06/2016 they were. Peter Bevis, his wife Helen McGregor, their daughter Laura Bevis, and son in law Douglas Wilson. The usual Highland Titles suspects,  this is a distinctly family affair.

This can be verified HERE

And we can date control of SWA in 2007 to Peter Bevis, via a Scotsman article HERE

"He (Peter Bevis) shrugs off any suggestion that he avoids British tax - "the business is registered in the Channel Islands because that's where the family's from" - and defends his organisation, the Scottish Woodland Alliance, whose website is linked to Lochaber Highland Estates and encourages its readers to invest in trees at Laird's Wood. He intends to register the alliance as a charity, he explains, to help fund even more tree-planting in Scotland."

This is a very considerable tree planting undertaking (1000 hectares is just short of 2500 acres). Given the same planting density as their own (we believe unfinished) Jubilee Wood project of 500 trees per acre, (lets say around 1,000 trees/hectare), that comes to around 1,000,000 trees. Creating "1000 hectares of new woodland" would have meant planting one million trees in the ten years since 2007.

Eight years on (in 2015), Highland Titles were giving figures of 8,000 trees planted. For example on a Facebook post dated 17th Sept 2015, it was claimed, "Highland Titles have planted around 8000 trees at the Reserve in Duror". That's around than a rather miserly 1000 trees per year. At that rate it's going to take them somewhere around 30 years just to plant the previously mentioned Jubilee Wood.

We think it unlikely that in the final 2 years they planted the outstanding 992,000.

Note the word ‘pledge’. This isn’t a dream or an aspiration. Customers are likely to understand that from the funds they contributed to the novel conservation enterprise that is Highland Titles (then known as Lochaber Highland Estates), money would be be set aside to plant up to 1,000,000 trees over the following ten years.

A common definition of pledge is a solemn promise.

We think this a quite startling example of the Highland Titles mob not coming close to fulfilling one of their promises. But then, this is a Highland Titles pledge.

Highland Titles Cannot Make You A Laird Lord or Lady It's Official

An article about fake Laird Lord and Lady titles was published in The Times on Friday. It appears that some people have been so taken in by the advertising of con merchants like Highland Titles claiming you can become a Laird Lord or Lady by owning a souvenir plot of land, that they've been applying for a coat of arms from Lord Lyon.

The headline reads "Buying piece of Scotland doesn’t make you a laird or lady"

The start of The Times article can be seen HERE, and a full copy of an open access version is archived HERE.

The Guardian also picked up on the story HERE

We have to chuckle at the protestations of Highland Titles, their quotation from the article reads "In Scotland anyone can, subject to requirements of good faith, call themselves whatever they like, including ‘laird’, ‘lord’ or ‘lady’".

We have no argument with the above, unfortunately that is not what Highland Titles have been telling  and selling to their customers.

Here are two clips from a scan of the "Landowner Handbook" section of the document pack sent out to Highland Titles' customers, taken in Spring 2015.

We can see quite clearly that Highland Titles claim that "As the owner of Scottish land you can legitimately style yourself as a Laird Lord or Lady, and, "The title of Lord or Lady depends on owning Scottish land". Both of these statements are bare faced lies designed to con their customers into believing they own a plot of land and that in so doing they gain a genuine title, it's nonsense.

As we have seen previously ad nauseum, and as pointed out in The Times article, it is not possible to become the owner of a souvenir plot of land in Scotland, whatever Highland Titles or anyone else may tell you.

The other tiny issue is, even if you did actually own the plot, as pointed out in The Times article by Lord Lyon, you still would not gain the rights to any titles at all.

"The Court of the Lord Lyon reiterated that the titles awarded had no legal worth." 

“It is a description rather than a title and is not appropriate for the owner of a normal residential property, far less the owner of a small souvenir plot of land."

Yes in Scotland you can call yourself anything you want, but doing so does not make you become the thing you've called yourself.

Giving yourself a title using descriptive words does not make you become the thing the words describe.

Lets make it simple, giving yourself the title of  'Doctor' doesn't make you a doctor does it? Obviously not. In the same way giving yourself the title of Laird Lord or Lady doesn't make you one, does it?

If you really must call yourself Laird Lord or Lady and have that on your passport you can, but be aware this will become your fist name not your title. Just fill in a free deed poll document available here http://freedeedpoll.org.uk/ fill out the form, follow the instructions, and off you go. There is no need to give a bunch of scammers £29.99 for the privilege, it makes it no more valid.

If you think calling yourself "Lord of Whatever" might get you better seats in restaurants or something, just call yourself that. Banks and credit card companies will change the name on cards if you send a simple free deed poll document, they don't care what you want to be called and do want to keep your custom. Paying good money for a plot of land you can't own makes no difference at all to this.

But Highland Titles have a trademark on Laird of Glencoe and that's what I want to call myself. This makes no difference at all, you are not using it for commercial purposes so you are entirely at liberty to call yourself that, it does not contravene their trademark in any way.

You don't get a title by owning land in Scotland, you don't get a meaningful title by calling yourself a descriptive name. To top it all, you can't own a souvenir plot of land in Scotland. Anybody claiming otherwise and offering to sell you any of the mentioned, is operating a scam.

In our opinion it is a national disgrace that this business has been allowed to carry on for so long without the intervention of regulators. We can see no reason why the law has not been applied to those who peddle this nonsense, and benefit financially from their clear deception.

What others have to say about Highland Titles might interest you

Andy Wightman (now an MSP) asks "Who Owns Lord Glencoe's Plot" HERE

Malcolm Combe Lecturer in Law at Aberdeen University discusses Highland Titles HERE

Craig Anderson Lecturer in law Robert Gordon University letter to the Scotsman HERE

#loveandgarbage discusses Scots land law and Highland Title's claims that their customers become land owners and get a title HERE and HERE

Previous cons operated by the Bevis mob

The website applyehic.org fooling consumers into paying for otherwise free European Health Insurance Cards and other matters is discussed HERE

The Mirror newspaper reveals that Peter Bevis of Highland Titles was behind the Telephone Preference Register website, www.telephonepreference.org.uk which was found by the Advertising Standards Agency to  be "leading users to infer it was a Government service" HERE

#HighlandTitlesDay on Twitter 10th February

Today marks the anniversary of when @loveandgarbage replied to a promoted tweet from Highland Titles. The story of the original ensuing Twitter storm is related HERE.

The festivities fairly took off, and we were surprised by how many took part. There were many contributions from regular commentators @trewloy, @MalcolmCombe @NearlyLegal @htscam @andywightman  @stevieg1241 and many others.

We don't have time at the moment to go into blow by blow details, but Malcolm Combe has commented on the day in his blog HERE

You can see some of the highlights here http://twitter.com/hashtag/HighlandTitlesDay

One interesting item which came up was mention of a book by Belgian journalist Julien Oeuillet titled Les Business Des Vanités. In the book there is mention of Highland Titles and let's just say it is very much less than complimentary. The book is available from Amazon in Kindle and paperback form, and is in French.

Someone had even gone to the trouble of printing up anniversary t-shirts, we liked the t-shirts!

Enough for now, we are quite sure there will be more revelations to come this year, Highland Titles have certainly not given up their conning ways, and we will continue to point them out.

Until then, we wish you a happy Highland Titles Day.

It All Falls Down For Highland Titles, Again!

In response to our piece last weekend on the ASA ruling against Tulloch Farm Enterprises Ltd, a reader wrote in concerning the legal opinion Tulloch Farm submitted to the ASA. Their analysis forms the basis of this post.

First let’s deal with the “Tulloch Farm” smokescreen. (1) The offending website was lochaberhighlandestates.com. This was Highland Titles’ first website, domain registered 20th May 2006 by “Peter Bevis” of “Lochaber Highland Estates”. Lochaber Highland Estates officially changed their name to Highland Titles in 2012. (2) As we recorded, at the time of the complaint the contact address on the website was for Highland Titles, as was the contact email (support@highlandtitles.com). (3) The directors of Tulloch Farm Enterprises Ltd are Peter Bevis and Helen McGregor of Highland Titles.

Highland Titles’ old legal advice letter was roundly demolished by lawyers and legal academics about this time last year. The purpose of the new legal advice is not to establish the law, as the law is known:

Professor George L Gretton, Lord President Reid Professor of Law at the University of Edinburgh (principal architect of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012, and co-author of the standard work on conveyancing)

“So if a company sells a souvenir plot, the sale cannot be completed. The buyer of the plot does not become owner of the plot. Ownership of such plots remains with the company.”

(Full letter reproduced HERE.)

Scott Wortley of the University of Edinburgh (co-author of “Scottish Land Law, 3rd ed.”, and member of the Joint Consultative Committee between the Registers of Scotland and Law Society of Scotland)

“The legal position is very clear. A sale of land involves a transfer of ownership from seller to buyer. In Scotland a transfer of ownership of land requires registration of the conveyance. … Where there is a souvenir plot the Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012, following the approach of the 1979 Act, provides that registration cannot take place. And if registration cannot take place there is no transfer of ownership. And consequently no sale of land takes place. This is not difficult. It is not a grey area. It is perfectly clear and is an application of the statutory rules.”

(Comment HERE.)

Correction - Scott Wortley is not a current member of the joint consultative committee. He has not been a member for a few years. See his comment.

Malcolm Combe of the University of Aberdeen and Dr Jill Robbie of the University of Glasgow, writing in the Edinburgh Law Review, “A Square Foot of Old Scotland: Ownership of Souvenir Plots”

(Open access version HERE.)

And more informally, Professor James Chalmers, Regius Professor of Law at the University of Glasgow, put the position concisely on Twitter:

So the purpose of the new advice is not to establish the law. It’s to cover Highland Titles’ arse (“We have legal advice that…”). So how does it fare?

  

We haven’t seen it, but the ASA report the argument as hinging on the notion of “beneficial ownership”: 

“They said that in his report their barrister had confirmed that the purchase of a souvenir plot created beneficial ownership although not a “real right”.”  

“beneficial ownership”. Interesting.

Here’s Professor Martin Hogg, Deputy Head of the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh, writing in 2004: 

“It has always been a basic principle of the Scots legal system that one either is, or isn’t, the owner of something. There is nothing in between. In particular there is no concept of “beneficial ownership” in Scots law – this is a Common Law concept wholly alien to Scots Law.”

Our correspondent queried this with the obliging Professor Hogg:

So Highland Titles have pinned the legitimacy of their sales on a concept that does not exist in Scots law – that is, in fact, “wholly alien” to Scots law.  

Oh dear.

Based on what we know from the ASA’s account, this horse hasn’t even made it out of the starting gate.  

We would also stress Professor Hogg’s “… one either is, or isn’t, the owner of something. There is nothing in between.” So Highland Titles does not sell land, and its customers are positively not landowners.  

So what went wrong?

The use of the term “barrister QC” (as opposed to “advocate”) has surprised more than one Scots law commentator. In obtaining legal advice, has Highland Titles made the age-old error of mixing up “barrister QC” and “barista (quick coffee)”?  

We include a helpful illustration of the difference.

In a surely ill-advised attempt to outdo the already impressive contribution of their legal advisors, Highland Titles put forward in their defence an explanation of how legal ownership would be possible if the law were other than what it is (“… and would have the right to register as a ‘real’ owner if and when the law changed”). It’s hard to say whether this is the dumbest attempt to defend a broken business model we’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly up there. 

Does all of this matter?

Firstly, to the legally inclined, it lies somewhere between disrespectful and ridiculous. Some might go further – their use of terms like “landowner” clearly suggests the customer is getting something they are not (“How to become a Lord or Lady and help preserve Scotland: Highland Titles offers everyone the chance to become a landowner and self-styled Laird, Lord or Lady for as little as £29.99.”, highlandtitles.com About page, archived HERE).

Secondly, there’s more to Highland Titles than meets the eye. And it’s not good.

Right, we're off to get a coffee. The bloke down the road in the horsehair wig makes a killer latte, even if he does bill £500/hour.