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Cite as: 2020 GWD 9-134, [2020] CSIH 8, 2020 SLT 414, 2020 SCLR 752, [2020] ScotCS CSIH_8

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FIRST DIVISION, INNER HOUSE, COURT OF SESSION

Lord President

Lord Menzies

Lord Drummond Young

[2020] CSIH 8

XA61/19

OPINION OF THE COURT

delivered by LORD CARLOWAY, the LORD PRESIDENT

in the Special Case stated by the Scottish Land Court

in the application by

HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS AIRPORTS LTD

against

Applicants

THE COMMITTEE FOR THE COMBINED COMMON GRAZINGS OF MELBOST AND

BRANAHUIE

Respondents

______________

Applicants: Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt QC, E Gratwick (sol adv); Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Respondents: Upton; Turcan Connell

28 February 2020

Introduction

[1] This is a special case arising from the Land Court’s interlocutor of 6 February 2019

which declared that, for aught yet seen, certain areas of the land, which are owned by the

applicants at Stornoway Airport remain subject to crofting tenure. The process before the

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Land Court had begun as an application for a declarator to the opposite effect, with a view

to the applicants selling a specific area to a local residential developer. The core issue is

whether the land was the subject of compulsory acquisition in the 1940s, with the effect that

any crofting rights would have been terminated without the need for any consent from the

Land Court (Highlands and Islands Oil and Gas Co v Bourbloch Common Grazings 1995 SLCR

110). The Land Court held that compulsory acquisition had not been demonstrated.

Legislation

Lands Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1845

[2] Section 6 of the 1845 Act (Power to purchase lands by agreement) states:

“… it shall be lawful for the promoters of the undertaking to agree with the owners

of any lands by the special Act authorized to be taken, … and with all parties having

any right or interest in such lands, … for the absolute purchase of any such lands…

and for the purchase of all rights and interests in such lands of what kind soever.”

Section 80 (Form of conveyances) provides:

“Conveyances of lands so to be purchased… may be according to the form of the

schedule (A.) respectively… or as near thereto as the circumstances of the case will

admit…”.

Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919

[3] Section 1(1) of the 1919 Act (Tribunal for assessing compensation in respect of land

compulsorily acquired for public purposes) states:

“Where by or under any statute… land is authorised to be acquired compulsorily by

any Government Department…, any question of disputed compensation … shall be

referred to and determined by the arbitration of ... one of a panel of official

arbitrators …”.

Section 2 (Rules for the assessment of compensation) provides:

“In assessing compensation, an official arbitrator shall act in accordance with the

following rules:—

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(1) No allowance shall be made on account of the acquisition being compulsory:

(2) The value of land shall … be taken to be the amount which the land if sold in

the open market by a willing seller might be expected to realise…

(5) Where land is, and but for the compulsory acquisition would continue to be,

devoted to a purpose of such a nature that there is no general demand or market for

land for that purpose, the compensation may … be assessed on the basis of the

reasonable cost of equivalent reinstatement; …”.

Section 8 (Power to refer to… agreed arbitrator) states:

“(1) Nothing in this Act shall prevent, if the parties so agree, the reference of any

question as to disputed compensation or apportionment of rent … to an arbitrator

agreed on between the parties…”.

Air Navigation Act 1920

[4] Section 7 (Special powers in case of emergency) of the 1920 Act provides:

“(1) In time of war …, the Secretary of State may, by order, regulate … the

navigation of … aircraft over the British Islands…; and, … any such order may

provide for taking possession of and using for the purposes of His Majesty's naval,

military or air forces any aerodrome or landing ground …

(3) Any person who suffers direct injury or loss, owing to the operation of an

order of the Secretary of State under this section, shall be entitled to receive

compensation from the Secretary of State, the amount thereof to be fixed, in default

of agreement, by an official arbitrator appointed under the [1919 Act], …”.

Small Landholders and Agriculture Holdings (Scotland) Act 1931

[5] Section 25 of the 1931 Act (Avoidance of agreement inconsistent with the

Landholders Acts) states:

“Any contract or agreement made by a [crofter] by virtue of which he is deprived of

any right conferred on him by any provision of the Landholders Acts shall to that

extent be void unless the contract or agreement is approved by the Land Court.”

Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939

[6] Section 1 (Defence Regulations) of the 1939 Act states:

“(1) … His Majesty may by Order in Council make such Regulations … as appear

to him to be necessary or expedient for securing ... the defence of the realm ...

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(2) … Defence Regulations may, so far as appears to His Majesty in Council to be

necessary or expedient for any of the purposes mentioned in that subsection …

(b) authorise—

(i) the taking of possession or control ... of any property or

undertaking…”.

The Defence (General) Regulations 1939

[7] Regulation 50 of the 1939 Regulations states that:

“(1) Any member of [HM’s] forces ... and any person authorised by a competent

authority to act under this Regulation, may, for any purpose connected with the

defence of the realm ... do any work on any land or place anything in, on or over any

land ...”.

Regulation 51 states:

“(1) A competent authority, if it ... [is] in the interests of ... the defence of the realm

... may take possession of any land ...”.

Regulation 52 states:

“(1) ... a Secretary of State ... may by order authorise ... the use of any land ... for ...

air force purposes ...”.

The Rules of the Scottish Land Court Order 2014 (SSI 229)

[8] Rule 72 (Appeal against order which is not final decision) of the Land Court Rules

provides that:

“(1) If an order appealed against is not a final decision, the taking of the appeal

does not stay procedure in the case and the divisional court may make such order, or

interim order, as appears to it to be requisite having regard to the balance of

convenience.”

Examples of such orders are given as those involving the preservation of evidence,

consignation or payment of money, custody of things and the production of documents.

[9] Rule 84 (Draft statement of case) provides that:

“(2) The draft statement of case must specify –

...

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(e) what interim orders are requested to sist procedure or otherwise to

regulate the affairs of parties pending determination of the special case ...”.

Facts

General

[10] Stornoway airport lies to the east of the town, between the villages of Steinish on the

west and Melbost and Branahuie on the east. Its northern and southern boundaries are

essentially defined by the sea, although there is also the main road on the southern side. The

whole area was previously owned by the Stornoway Trust, to whom it would have been

disponed by Lord Leverhulme in the 1920s. Stornoway Golf Course, which was formed in

1890, was originally laid out on the land. The proposal to create a civil aerodrome emerged

in the 1930s. For that purpose, 140 acres of crofting land was resumed by the Trust from the

Steinish Common Grazings by virtue of two resumption orders of the Land Court, dated

1934 and 1936. The precise boundaries of the resumed land were not provided, but it was

said to encompass the central part of the current airport.

[11] It is not disputed that in about 1940, the Secretary of State for Air took possession of

what was then a grass landing strip and ancillary facilities. The airport was expanded to

meet the needs of the war effort. A Royal Air Force base was established. After the war, the

airport returned to civilian use. The Secretary of State for Air nevertheless took title to the

land by disposition from the Trust dated 30 August 1946 and recorded in the Sasines

1941. The area conveyed, which included the resumed Steinish common grazings, is shown

bounded in red on a somewhat indistinct plan as shown:

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[12] The disposition made no reference to compulsory acquisition. The “price” was

£13,057 14s, which is the same amount which the Land Court assessed as being the

“compensation” due to the Trust (see infra). The disposition was not in a form prescribed in

Schedule A of the 1845 Act. The land disponed affected three crofting areas: (1) the Melbost

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common grazings; (2) inbye land of eleven Melbost crofts; and (3) the combined Melbost and

Branahuie common grazings. These three areas are respectively marked on the following

plan:

[13] The disposition followed upon four Minutes of Agreement and Reference between

the Air Ministry and, respectively, the Stornoway Trust, the crofters in four townships

(Melbost, Steinish, Sandwick North Street and Branahuie), the tenant of Melbost Farm and

the Trustees of the Golf Club. It is important to look in some detail at the content of these

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Minutes in order to understand the context in which the various parties and the Land Court

considered they were acting in the 1940s.

The Minutes

The Stornoway Trust

[14] In relation to the Trust, the preamble of the Minute narrated that the Air Ministry

were carrying out, or had carried out, “certain works” on land belonging to the Trust. It had

been “... arranged that the [Trust] shall sell to the Minister [the Secretary of State for Air] and

that the Minister shall purchase the… land ...” shown on an annexed plan. This plan was

not produced. It was agreed that the price was to be referred, in terms of section 8(1) of the

1919 Act, to the Land Court as an agreed arbitrator. The agreement was that the Land Court

would fix the price “in terms of Section 2 of the said Act” with interest from a date of entry

which the Court was also to fix.

[15] The Minute continued:

“Whereas the Stornoway Trustees have intimated to the Minister that they have a

claim for compensation payable to them in addition to such price, the parties hereto

hereby submit and refer to the Scottish Land Court as sole Arbitrator foresaid the

question of whether such claim to compensation is a valid claim and, if said claim is

a valid claim, the amount thereof”.

The expenses of the reference and disposition and for the “Discharge of the [Trust’s] claim to

compensation” was to be covered by the Minister, subject to taxation.

[16] Over the Summer of 1945, the Land Court heard evidence, inspected the airport land

and the land identified for the relocation of the golf course, which is now in the castle

grounds, and heard submissions. Heads of compensation for the replacement of the

clubhouse and other buildings were included in the Trust’s claim, rather than remaining in

the Golf Club’s claim (infra). On 31 December 1945 the Land Court assessed “the sum to be

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paid by the Secretary of State for Air to the Claimants in terms of Section 2 of the [1919 Act]”

at £13,047 14s, including £9,600 for the re-instatement of the golf course and clubhouse.

Sums for the loss of ownership of Melbost Farm, crofts and common grazings, rent from

Scottish Airways and a shooting value were all part of the calculation. Entry was fixed at

Whitsunday (1 June) 1941.

[17] The Land Court’s Note recorded that:

“This is an arbitration… to the Land Court in terms of Section 8(1) of the [1919 Act]

to adjudicate on claims by the… Trustees against the Minster arising out of the

acquisition by the Minister of certain lands belonging to the Trustees for the purpose

of forming an aerodrome.”

The only significant dispute had related to the relocation of the golf course. The Court,

echoing the Ministry’s submission, reasoned that it should not assess compensation, in

accordance with rule 1 of section 2 of the 1919 Act, on the basis of equivalent reinstatement

of the golf course, if that would amount to a penalty for “the taking of land which the

legislature has authorised the Ministry to acquire”. Having cited Lord Shand in the Princes

Street Gardens arbitration, unreported, 25 October 1892, the Court said:

“The 1919 Act provides machinery for assessing compensation where land has been

acquired by a Government Department or any local or public authority. The rules for

assessing compensation are set out in Section 2. These rules are in the main little

more than declaratory of the practice that has been built up over a long period of

years in the assessment of compensation claims under the Land Clauses Acts and the

Railway Clauses Acts. The fact that the acquisition is compulsory is no ground for fixing

an inflated value for the land and this is provided for in Rule 1. Compulsory

purchase is common throughout the British Commonwealth and the same principles

of compensation obtain generally.” (emphases added).

Ultimately, the Court held that the re-instatement value was appropriate.

The Crofters

[18] This Minute set out the names of the many individual crofters “whose claims for

compensation” were involved. As with that of the Trust, the Minute narrated that the Air

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Ministry were carrying out, or had carried out, “certain works” on land which was occupied

by the crofters or grazed by them. The Ministry had “interfered” with the crofters’ rights.

The Minute recorded that:

“…it has been arranged that the compensation payable to each of the [crofters] in

respect of the interference with their respective holdings and/or grazing rights shall

be referred to and fixed by the Scottish Land Court, as the Arbitrator agreed on

between the parties in terms of section 8(1) of the [1919 Act]” (emphasis added).

“Therefore”, the Minute continued:

“The [crofters] and the Minister for their respective rights and interests, hereby refer

to the Scottish Land Court, as sole Arbitrator foresaid, to fix and determine the

compensation to be paid to each of the [crofters], in terms of [section 8(1) of the 1919

Act]; The compensation so fixed shall bear interest ... from the date or dates fixed by

the Court as the date or dates on which the Air Ministry interfered with or

requisitioned the holdings or part thereof” (emphasis added).

The expenses of the reference were again to be paid by the Ministry, subject to taxation.

[19] The Land Court heard evidence, visited the crofts and listened to submissions in the

Summer of 1945 before issuing proposed findings on 14 September 1945 and a final

determination on 31 December 1945. The Court set out in detailed schedules the

compensation which was payable under the 1919 Act “in respect of interference with their

respective interests in the land”. For each croft, it determined the value of the rent

reductions in respect of any diminished holding. It then provided a figure for the

capitalised value of the loss of profits which each crofter would suffer. This was followed by

figures to be paid for the loss of fences and buildings together with miscellaneous moveable

items, such as grass seeds.

[20] The Land Court appended a Note as follows:

“We think it desirable to make a short explanation regarding the proposed awards in

so far as they deal with the claims which are put forward in respect of ‘Redundant

Buildings.’ Where awards have been made under this head the amount awarded in

each case is our measure of the sum required to compensate the holder in respect of

the lower compensatable value of his buildings consequent on the diminished value of

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his holding due to the compulsory acquisition of part of it by the Air Ministry” (emphasis

added).

Twenty nine crofters were awarded compensation in Melbost, 26 in Branahuie, 14 in Steinish

and 36 in North Street Sandwick. Each crofter and croft was respectively named and

numbered and each was awarded a specific compensatory sum.

The Melbost Farm Tenant and the Golf Course

[21] The Farm Minute was not produced, but the Land Court order is available. It is

headed:

“Acquisition of Land by Air Ministry – Compensation to Farm Tenant – Minute of

Agreement and Reference to Land Court – Acquisition of Land (Assessment of

Compensation) Act 1919.”

It reads:

“Under a Minute of Agreement and Reference the Joint Applicants asked the Land

Court to assess compensation payable to the tenant of Melbost Farm whose lands

were affected by the compulsory acquisition of land by the Air Ministry” (emphasis

added).

Sums were awarded for loss of profits and goodwill, disturbance and inconvenience,

together with the value of sundry moveable and heritable items.

[22] The Golf Course Minute was not produced, but the Land Court Order is in process.

Ultimately, only £150, being the value of the Golf Club’s lost moveables, was awarded as the

claim for reinstating the golf course had been transferred to the Stornoway Trust (supra).

The preamble stated:

“Under a Minute of Agreement and Reference the Joint Applicants asked the Land

Court to assess compensation to the Trustees of Stornoway Golf Course whose lands

were affected by the compulsory acquisition of land by the Air Ministry” (emphasis

added).

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Post War

[23] Although it is not specifically averred, Stornoway airport has operated for civilian

purposes since the war. In addition, from 1986 until 1993 it was used as a NATO forward

Operating base. During this time, a substantial runway (running north to south) was

constructed across the earlier civilian surfaces. This can be seen on the plan (supra). The

court was told that the new runway involved the reclamation of land from the sea at the

runway’s northern extremity. In 2001, the airport was conveyed by the Secretary of State for

Defence (as successor to the Secretary of State for Air) to the applicants.

[24] In respect of crofting usage since 1941, the respondents aver (and it was not

disputed) that:

“[W]hile the airside fences constructed by the [applicants] and aircraft safety

prevents the shareholders making use of the grazings on the airside parts, the second

of the Named Respondents makes use of the Struiper [an area of ground adjacent to

the disputed area at its northwestern comer] for grazing cattle and the fourth of the

Named Respondents keeps his tups amongst the redundant RAF buildings at the

junction with the main road [i.e. on part of the disputed area]. The Third

Respondent ... has grazed his ram [on the part of the disputed area intended to be

disponed to Calmax Construction Ltd] for the last 35 years without seeking, or

feeling the need for, permission, as his grandfather had before him. In addition, until

the late 1960s, when a larger and modern fank was built for use by the shareholders,

elsewhere, the shareholders made use of a fank within the vicinity of the RAF

buildings and the land subject to this application, and another fank with the area

known as the Struiper. ... Sheep did in fact graze the airfield for many years after the

war.”

The Land Court Decision

[25] The Land Court determined that, on the material presented to it, other than the

resumed Steinish grazings, the airport land remained subject to crofting tenure.

[26] The applicants had pled that there had been a requisition in terms of the Emergency

Powers (Defence) Acts of 1939 and 1940 (and, presumably the Defence (General) Regulations

1939), but before the Land Court they accepted that they could no longer advance that

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proposition because other statutory powers could have achieved the same result. Their

position remained that it was a necessary inference that the acquisition had been made

under compulsory powers.

[27] The Land Court reasoned that it was unlikely that any formal process of compulsory

acquisition had taken place for five reasons. First, no documentation constituting or

representing such a process had been found. Secondly, there was no reference to any

particular statutory power in any of the documents, including the disposition. Thirdly, the

disposition was in ordinary form; of the kind used in a consensual transaction. It was not in

the form prescribed in Schedule A of the 1845 Act. Fourthly, consistent with the form of the

disposition, it was narrated in the Stornoway Trust’s Minute that the Ministry had agreed to

buy the subjects and the Trust had agreed to sell them. Fifthly, the terminology of

“interference with” rights or holdings in the Crofters’ Minute suggested something short of

a complete extinction of rights.

[28] The absence of a formal procedure did not mean that there was no element of

compulsion. What had been done was in the knowledge of the existence of powers of

compulsion. It was understandable that no-one would not want to frustrate the war effort

by insisting on formalities. The parties would have known they would receive

compensation for their loss. There was “a certain logic”, but no legal basis for saying that

compulsory powers had been used.

[29] The applicants had argued that the Crofters’ Minute was an agreement to give up

their interests in the land and that the Land Court’s compensation award was an approval of

that agreement in terms of section 25 of the 1931 Act. The Court commented that exactly

what was being compensated for had not been spelled out, although “interference”

suggested something short of permanent deprivation of rights. However, there had been no

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limitation of time in the calculation of the reductions in rent. The compensation related to

rent “going forward and not just for the war years. That suggests permanent loss of

something, whether some inbye land, grazing rights or both”. The claims had been based on

a 14 year multiplier. On this basis the Land Court concluded that the crofters were being

compensated for future permanent loss “if not of their rights, then their ability to exercise

these rights over the disputed area”. That was not an end of the matter.

[30] The Court had not been asked to issue section 25 approvals in 1945. Approval had

not been given (Macdonald v Prentice’s Trs 1993 SLT (Land Ct) 60). In any event, any

agreement, which had been approved under that section, would have had to have been

between the Secretary of State for Air and the Stornoway Trust as landlord (Crofters

Commission v Arran 1997 SLT (Land Ct) 22, at 123-137; Crofters Commission Reference 2012

SLCR 159, at paras [49] to [57]). The Trust remained the crofters’ landlord after the

acquisition. An agreement with a party who was not the landlord could not be effective in

depriving the crofters of rights held from the landlord as part of their crofts.

Interim Interdict Proceedings

[31] Subsequent to the Land Court's determination, some of the crofters introduced sheep

into the disputed areas. They emailed some of the applicants’ tenants, stating that they were

“squatting” on land subject to crofting tenure. The applicants sought interim interdict from

the Court by relying on Land Court Rule 84(2)(e). The Court considered that it did not have

the power to grant interim interdict pending disposal of a special case in crofting, as

opposed to agricultural, cases. The Court’s powers were limited to those granted by statute

(Garvie’s Trustees v Still 1972 SLT 29). No power of interdict in crofting cases had been

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granted (see rule 72). It was not necessary to infer that power in the Court, as it was

available as a remedy in the Court of Session or the Sheriff Court.

Questions in the Special Case

[32] The questions for the court are:

1. Did the Land Court err in determining that the references under the [1919 Act] ...

together with the other adminicles of evidence, were not sufficient to establish

that compulsory purchase powers had been used by the Air Ministry to acquire

the land ...?

2. Esto the Land Court was right to hold ... that, while formal procedures do not

seem to have been resorted to, the sale of the airfield was, nevertheless,

conducted under threat of compulsion, did the court err in holding ... that the

leases or grazing rights of the [crofters] were, nevertheless not extinguished in

the same way as they would have been had the formal procedures been

followed?

3. If the Court has not erred in respect of the first question, did it err in determining

that the Minute of Agreement and Reference ... did not amount to approval by

the Court for the purposes of sec 25 of the [1931 Act] of an agreement on the part

of the relevant [crofters] to relinquish their rights ... in return for receiving

compensation?

4. Did the Court err in holding that Rule 84(2)(e) of the Rules of the Scottish Land

Court 2014 did not give the Court power to grant interim interdict?

Submissions

Applicants

[33] On the first question, it was clear from the specific references to the 1919 Act in the

Minutes, together with other adminicles, that in 1945 the Land Court was determining

compensation in respect of a compulsory acquisition. The fact that the ultimate disposition

was in ordinary form did not alter the fact that the land had been compulsorily acquired.

Any crofting rights were thereby extinguished. Section 1(1) of the 1919 Act could only be

invoked when land was authorised to be acquired. A Government department must have

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set that process in motion by a Notice to Treat, to be followed by a negotiation on

compensation, or other method. Although, despite extensive searches, no documents had

been found which described what had been done, unless there had been a compulsory

purchase process, the 1919 Act could not have been used.

[34] The land may have been acquired under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939

and the Defence Regulations 1939. These had been used in relation to another airport

during the war. The compensation under the Regulations was for temporary disturbance.

Other powers may have been used, including the Air Navigation Act 1920. It did not matter

which statute had been employed, since the 1919 Act presupposed that some compulsory

acquisition process had been engaged.

[35] It was possible for compensation to be assessed before the real right had been

transferred. This was relevant since the parties could thereafter agree to a voluntary transfer

(1845 Act s 6). The 1845 Act was a consolidation statute which applied to all compulsory

purchases. The 1919 Act only applied to land which had been compulsorily acquired. It did

not apply to the temporary acquisition of rights. As permitted by section 8(1) of the 1919

Act, the parties could agree upon an arbitrator. They selected the Land Court. The amount

of compensation which had been assessed by the Court was the amount specified in the

disposition. This demonstrated that the disposition had been granted in respect of a

compulsory acquisition. The Court accepted that the compensation was for permanent loss.

[36] In stating that it was “unlikely that any formal process of compulsory acquisition

was undergone”, the Land Court erred. Once the Government had initiated the statutory

procedure for compulsory acquisition, the parties were free to settle the conditions of that

acquisition voluntarily. It was still a compulsory acquisition. The Court had referred to the

absence of documentation, but the Minutes were documents which indicated that a

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compulsory purchase process had commenced, since they were entered into under the

1919 Act. The Court should have applied the maxim “omnia praesumuntur rite et solemniter

esse acta” (“all thing are presumed to have been done duly and in the usual manner or all

things are presumed to have been done solemnly and with the usual ceremony”; Trayner’s

Latin Maxims). When the Minutes all referred to the Court acting under the 1919 Act, it had

to be presumed that the Government had acted under a statute which authorised the

compulsory acquisition.

[37] The Stornoway Trust Minute referred to the Land Court being appointed under

section 8(1) of the 1919 Act and to the compensation being assessed under section 2 of that

Act. It referred to the compulsory acquisition of land by the Minister. The Land Court’s

Note referred to the diminished value of a holding due to such acquisition. Although the

disposition did not mention statutory powers, the price paid was the amount of the

compensation. This represented loss of rents, shooting value and the reinstatement of the

golf course.

[38] The 1845 Act provided for conveyances to be in a particular form, but the provision

(s 80) was permissive and not compulsory (see s 6). The fact that parties chose to use an

ordinary form of disposition did not mean that the process ceased to be one of compulsory

acquisition. Although the Minute referred to a sale of the land, the price was made up both

of the value of the land and the compensation.

[39] The use of the phrase “interference with their holdings” or “their respective interests

in the land” did not suggest something short of a complete extinction of rights. The whole

of the grazings had not been acquired. If the acquisition had been temporary, the land

would have been given back to the Stornoway Trust at the end of the war (VE day having

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been 8 May 1945). The Land Court accepted that the compensation had included future loss.

There was compensation for redundant buildings, which again suggested a permanent loss.

[40] On the second question, if, as the Land Court held, the purchase of the airport was

carried out under the threat of compulsion, the Court erred in holding that the grazing

rights had not been extinguished in the same manner as if formal procedures had been used.

If there was a conveyance under threat of the use of statutory powers, the effect of the

conveyance was the same as if the powers had been used, especially where compensation

has been paid.

[41] On the third question, the Land Court erred in holding that its decisions on the

Minutes did not amount to approval of a resumption of the land for the purposes of

section 25 of the 1931 Act. The Court erred in holding that the determinations on the

Minutes did not amount to tacit approval and that any agreement for the surrender of rights

would have to have been with the Stornoway Trust. The crofters had agreed to the Court

assessing compensation for the permanent removal of parts of their holdings in some cases

and of the grazing rights of others. It was implicit, when the Court accepted the arbitration

reference, that it was approving the underlying agreement that the crofters were to give up

certain rights, for which they would be compensated. If the Land Court was not implicitly

agreeing to the agreement, it could not have justified taking the reference as the agreement

would have been void under section 25 of the 1931 Act.

[42] Having acquired title, the Air Ministry became the landlords; being the persons

entitled to receive the rents or profits or to take possession of the holding (Sorbie v Kennedy

2016 SC 271). From the date of entry (Whitsunday 1941), the Ministry was the person

entitled to take possession of the grazings (Walker v Hendry 1925 SC 855). In any event the

Trust was a party to the overall agreements. Section 25 did not require a formal act of

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approval in a court process (cf Macdonald v Prentice’s Trs (supra)). Agreements under section

6 of the 1845 Act did not require section 25 consent.

[43] An additional question might be asked:

“… did the agreement whereby the [crofters] were to give up their rights in exchange

for compensation require approval… under section 25…where section 6 of [the 1845

Act] allows parties to agree a voluntary purchase of all rights and interests in the

context of a compulsory acquisition process?”

The crofters had been compensated for their losses. Their rights had been extinguished

(Town-Council of Oban v Callander and Oban Railway Co (1892) 19 R 912) even although a

formal compulsory purchase process had not been completed (cf: Welsh: Compulsory

Purchase in Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia Vol 5 para 86).

[44] On the fourth question, although this matter was now academic, Land Court

Rule 84(2)(e) provided that a draft statement of case had to specify what interim orders were

requested in order to regulate matters pending a determination of the special case. This was

wide enough to include the grant of an interdict. This was so even if, as was accepted, the

Court did not have a general power to grant interdict in crofting cases (cf Agricultural

Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 s 84(1)(a)).

Respondents

[45] The respondents explained that the applicants had not sought a proof. The

applicants’ position was that whether the crofters’ rights had been extinguished by a

compulsory acquisition was a matter of inference from known facts. At its highest, it was

only one possible inference. It was also possible that there had been no compulsory

acquisition. If it could not be said which possibility was the more probable, the applicants

were bound to fail. There was no compulsory purchase order. There was no deliverance

which compelled a transfer of title. There was no Notice to Treat. The Air Ministry had

Page 20 ⇓

taken possession of the land in 1939 and had retained de facto possession of it until 1945.

There had then been a consensual sale. There was nothing done to extinguish the crofting

tenure. Section 6 of the 1845 Act did not apply, because there had been no “special Act”.

[46] The Land Court’s five reasons justified its conclusion (supra). Acceptance of the

arbitration reference did not involve the Court acting as a court. It did not depend on the

application of the 1919 Act. The Court had been less strict in its approach to jurisdiction at

the time. The parties had agreed to use the 1919 Act’s valuation rules.

[47] In situations of doubt, it was to be presumed that vested rights were not

extinguished (R (Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd) v Wolverhampton City Council [2011] 1 AC 437

at para 11). The occupation of the airport by the Air Ministry was not necessarily referable

to the exercise of compulsory powers of acquisition. Regulation 51 of the 1939 Regulations

could have been used to secure temporary possession. The applicants had accepted before

the Land Court that they could not identify the power that had been used. That meant that

they could not now refer this court to any specific authorising provision. The potential

effect of the use of any such provision was speculative. The applicants’ argument amounted

to an assertion that the crofters’ rights had been extinguished by an unknown, unidentified

provision. There was an ex facie consensual disposition before the Court. The Stornoway

Trust’s Minute referred to an agreement to sell the subjects.

[48] On question two, the Land Court had been correct to hold that the absence of formal

compulsory procedures meant that the crofters’ rights had not been extinguished. The fact

that compulsory powers could have been exercised did not mean that the voluntary

conveyance had the same effect as a statutory transfer. There was no evidence that statutory

powers had been used.

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[49] On question three, the Land Court did not err in holding that the decisions of the

Court on the Minutes did not amount to approval under section 25 of the 1931 Act. The

Court were not to be taken to have approved an agreement unless it had expressly done so

by interlocutor. It did not follow, from the fact of the Court having notice of an agreement,

that it had granted a statutory approval of it (Macdonald v Prentice’s Trs 1993 SLT (Land Ct)

60 at 68). The language of the Minutes was not consistent with the permanent extinction of

rights. The Court would not have understood it to mean that crofting rights were to be

renounced. The compensation was for disturbance. In terms of the Minutes, the Court was

acting as a private arbitrator and not a court. Its orders had not been certified by the Sheriff

Clerk. The agreements contemplated by section 25 did not have the same effect as

resumption or renunciation.

[50] An approved agreement could only bind a successor in title if it was registered under

section 5 of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 (National Trust for Scotland v Macrae 2000 SLT

(Land Ct) 27 at 33-34). A grazing right was a pertinent of the croft. Only an agreement with

the landowner could affect it (Crofters Commission v Arran (supra) at 123-127; Crofters

Commission Reference (supra) at para [57]). The agreement had been between the crofters and

the Secretary of State, who was not then the landowner. A crofter could not give up a

pertinent of a croft without the landowner’s consent (Macdonald v Macdonald 1960 SLCR 22).

The applicants could resolve the problem by seeking to resume the crofts under sections 20

and 21 of the 1993 Act. Part of the North Street Sandwick crofts, which had been used as

part of the RAF station, had been resumed in 1954.

[51] On question four, the applicants had been granted interim interdict in the Court of

Session on 10 May 2018. This had been recalled, by consent, on 29 August 2019 following

reciprocal undertakings. This question was therefore academic. Once an appeal had been

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marked against an interlocutor of the Land Court, that Court was functus officio (Macaulay v

Tayburn, unreported, SLC 119/15, 21 June 2017. Rule 84(2)(e) did not confer the power of

interdict.

Decision

[52] The parties renounced probation. The question for the Land Court was whether, on

the balance of probabilities, the correct inference from the agreed written material in so far

as available, and the respondents’ undisputed averments concerning possession, was that

the land had been compulsorily acquired during the years of World War II? If it had been

compulsorily acquired, all of the crofting rights in the land would have been extinguished

by that occurrence, without the need for any approval under section 25 of the Small

Landholders and Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1931 (Highlands and Islands Oil and

Gas Co v Bourbloch Common Grazings 1995 SLCR 110; Town-Council of Oban v Callander and

Oban Railway Co (1892) 19 R 912, LP (Robertson) at 914). As a matter of principle, the Land

Court cannot undermine a duly authorised compulsory acquisition by refusing consent

under that section.

[53] The Land Court has provided five reasons for its conclusion that no compulsory

acquisition took place. These centre on the absence of documentary support for such an

acquisition, the form and contents of the disposition of the land and the use of the

terminology in the Crofter’s Minute. Whilst these are all undoubtedly matters which, if they

were correct, may be seen to point away from the use of compulsory powers of acquisition,

they are outweighed by the material which points firmly to the opposite conclusion. In all of

this, it must be assumed, for the purposes of the court’s decision, that the material which has

been produced is all that can be found.

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[54] The critical documents are the various Minutes and subsequent Land Court orders.

Although the Stornoway Trust Minute does refer to there being an agreement of sale and

purchase, the price was referred to the Land Court for determination under section 8(1) of

the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919. Section 1 of that Act

makes it clear that it is dealing with compensation for land “to be acquired compulsorily” by

the Government under a statute. Section 2 provides rules for the assessment of

compensation in those circumstances; there being a particular rule (s 2(5)) for the use of

reinstatement value in certain circumstances. That provision was used to determine the

compensation payable to the Trust for the acquisition of the golf course. This formed the

greater part of the price in the disposition. There was a specific reference to the use of re-

instatement value in the Land Court’s Note. In all of this, the Court made it clear that the

exercise, which it was carrying out, was the assessment of compensation for land which was

compulsorily acquired under statute.

[55] The Crofters’ Minute similarly refers to the Land Court’s appointment as arbitrator

under section 8(1) of the 1919 Act. It refers to the assessment of compensation payable

under that Act. It specifically stated that it was assessing diminished values consequent

upon the “compulsory acquisition” of part of the crofts by the Air Ministry. This

phraseology is repeated in the remaining two Minutes for Melbost Farm and the Golf Club.

[56] The use of this language and, more important, the adoption of the 1919 Act rules is

only explicable if what was happening was an exercise in the assessment of compensation

following upon the compulsory acquisition of land under statute. In the absence of material

counterbalancing factors, the appropriate inference to draw from this is, as a matter of

probability, that this is what had occurred; the land had been compulsorily acquired in

terms of a statute.

Page 24 ⇓

[57] It is true that no documentation has been found which identifies the power under

which the compulsory acquisition was authorised. It is conceivable that no statutory powers

were used at all (see Burmah Oil Co (Burma Trading) v Lord Advocate 1964 SC (HL) 117), but

that would seem unlikely given the obvious powers which were available under, for

example, the Air Navigation Act 1920 (s 7). That would appear to be the most likely

candidate since the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 and the Defence (General)

Regulations 1939 seem primarily concerned with acquiring possession (ie as a temporary

expedient) rather than securing ownership. It does not matter which statute was engaged,

since it is known that competent statutory powers did exist.

[58] The Minutes do not talk of prices to be set following upon an agreement to buy, but

of compensation to be assessed because of the compulsory acquisition by the Air Ministry.

The court must disagree with the Land Court’s reasoning, in so far as it proceeds on the

basis that no documentation relative to a compulsory acquisition process has been found.

The Minutes and the Court’s own Notes from 1945 describe such a process. Ultimately, a

standard disposition was used to convey the land to the Air Ministry, but this should not be

regarded as unusual where all those holding the interests being acquired are not opposing

the acquisition. There is no requirement to use the forms in the schedules to the Lands

Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1845. The provision (s 80) is permissive only. The

process occurred before the formal procedures under the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation

Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 were in force. All that would have been needed to acquire

the land compulsorily, in advance of a formal conveyance of title, would have been a Notice

to Treat, which would have had the effect of concluded missives. It may be slightly

surprising that no-one has produced any documentation emanating from, or internal to, the

Air Ministry, but it was eighty years ago.

Page 25 ⇓

[59] The use of the word “interference” does not convey a notion of temporary

interruption. Even if it did, as the Land Court held, the compensation which was paid to the

Stornoway Trust, the crofters and others was for, inter alia, future permanent loss. That was,

in the case of the Trust, the ownership of the land (including the golf course) and, in the case

of some of the crofters, their inbye land and/or, in the case of others, their grazing rights.

This is strongly indicative of the use of statutory powers of acquisition since that alone

would give rise to claims for compensation.

[60] The usefulness of the airport to the Air Ministry presumably diminished, at least to a

material extent, on the cessation of hostilities. If the interference had been temporary, there

would have been no need to convey the land to the Ministry in 1945. That conveyance, and

the fixing of the entry date at 1941, is again strongly indicative of a permanent acquisition of

all rights in the land as a result of compulsory action as at that entry date.

[61] For these reasons, the court will answer the first question in the affirmative. The

appropriate inference was that in 1941 the Air Ministry had used compulsory purchase

powers to acquire the land. The second and third questions do not now arise. However, in

deference to both the Land Court’s reasoning and the submissions made, if formal

procedures had not been adopted, but the threat of their use had prompted the Stornoway

Trust and every crofter to consent to either a sale of their property or a renunciation of their

rights, there would have had to have been a formal interlocutor of the Land Court, which

approved of the agreements relative to each croft, under section 25 of the Small Landholders

and Agriculture Holdings (Scotland) Act 1931. Such approval cannot be implied. In light of

this conclusion, there is no need to answer the additional question posed by the applicants.

The court agrees with the Land Court’s dicta to this effect in Macdonald v Prentice’s Trs 1993

SLT (Land Ct) 60 (at 68). The fact that such approval was neither sought nor given

Page 26 ⇓

strengthens the finding that compulsory acquisition is what had already occurred. If it had

not, the Land Court neither could nor would have entertained the Minutes.

[62] From a practical viewpoint, since the arrangements have already been implemented,

in so far as the payment and receipt of compensation is concerned, it is difficult to conceive

any reason for withholding approval 80 years on. The court has not ignored the fact that

sheep may have been allowed to roam, and hence graze, in non-operational parts of the

airport. This is not surprising and may be a sensible use of land. It does not persuade the

court that, standing the acceptance of compensation for giving up the crofting rights for the

land which includes these parts, these rights remain extant.

[63] Question four is academic and will not be answered formally. Suffice it to say that,

as presently advised, the court does not consider that the Land Court erred in

understanding its own statutory jurisdiction.