The Poor Had No Lawyers

Who Owns Scotland and How They Got it

Andy Wightman

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Paperback

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English

Birlinn Ltd
01 March 2025

European history; British & Irish history; Social & cultural history; Property & real estate; Public ownership & nationalisation

New and Updated Edition

Who owns Scotland? How did they get it? What happened to all the common land in Scotland? Has the Scottish Parliament made any difference? Can we get our common good land back? In this book, Andy Wightman updates the statistics of landownership in Scotland and explores how and why landowners got their hands on the millions of acres of land that were once held in common.

He tells the untold story of how Scotland's legal establishment and politicians managed to appropriate land through legal fixes. Have attempts to redistribute this power more equitably made any difference, and what are the full implications of the recent debt-fuelled housing bubble, the Smith Commission and the new Scottish Government's proposals on land reform? For all those with an interest in urban and rural land in Scotland, this updated edition of The Poor Had No Lawyers provides a fascinating analysis of one the most important political questions in Scotland.

By: Andy Wightman
Imprint: Birlinn Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New Edition
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 37mm
Weight: 450g
ISBN: 9781780278834
ISBN 10: 1780278837
Pages: 576
Publication Date: 01 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Andy Wightman was born in Dundee and studied forestry at Aberdeen University. He worked as a ghillie, environmental scientist, and an environmental campaigner before becoming a self-employed writer and researcher in 1993. He is the author of several books, including the best-selling Who Owns Scotland, and a prominent analyst and critic of land reform process. He lives in Edinburgh.

Reviews for The Poor Had No Lawyers: Who Owns Scotland and How They Got it

'It would be described as definitive, if its very purpose was not an ongoing attempt to introduce definition to disorder. If this remarkable book is definitive of anything, it is of its dogged, inquisitive, articulate and extremely serious author' * West Highland Free Press * 'frank, fearless and at times ferocious - a remarkable book' * Herald * 'Superlative' * The Scotsman * 'An essential guide to who owns Scotland and why land reform has flowered there in recent years' * The Guardian (the best books about land and power 2020) * 'A more important book about Scottish land ownership has yet to be written' -- David Ross * Press and Journal * 'One of the defining literary and scholarly works of modern Scotland ... it demands to be read if you want to reach an understanding of why Scotland cannot be considered a fair society while prevailing patterns of land ownership persist in our most beautiful places' -- Kevin McKenna