Most people in Scotland did not own property, but the service of heirs records can be very useful if your ancestors owned their own land or houses. Some families can be traced for several generations through these records.

Inheritance land transactions should also appear in registers of Sasines, especially after 1617.

“Special” services of heirs deal with specific land to be inherited. “General” services of heirs mention inheritances but not specific lands.

Availability of Records. The Scottish Record Office has the original service of heir records.

The Family History Library has printed abstracts of services to heirs from 1544 to 1700:

Inquisition ad capellam domini regis refornatarum abbreviatio. [Scotland]: n.p., 1811-1816. (FHL book Q 941 A2i; film 908847.) These records are in Latin.

The library also has microfilm copies of original records from 1586 to 1901. Each volume is indexed. To find the microfilm numbers, look in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under SCOTLAND - LAND AND PROPERTY.

Indexes. Annotated ten-year indexes are in print for service of heir records created between 1700 and 1860. After 1860, there are annual indexes.

Both the Scottish Record Office and the Family History Library have these indexes.

• From 1700 to 1959 the indexes are in book form (FHL book Q 941 R2ch). These indexes are very valuable because they give more information than just name and page. The information can help you decide if a certain service of heir is really the one you want. The actual records are difficult to read because they are in Latin.
• From 1700 to 1860, the indexes are on microfilm (FHL film 990340).
  

A list of indexes to service of heir records at the Family History Library is in:

Sasines, Services of Heirs, and Deeds Register. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Family History Library, 1981. (FHL book 941 R2ss; fiche 6054478.)

The following book will be of special interest for people in North America using Scottish service of heir records:

Dobson, David. Scottish American Heirs 1683-1883. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1990. (FHL book 941 D2d.) This work names every Scot who is listed in the service of heirs records who has a North American tie.

Register of Deeds

The Register of Deeds is another type of land record. In the strictest sense of the word, the register of deeds was used to preserve any legal, written agreement. In addition to land transactions, you will find marriage contracts, contracts of partnership, contracts of sale, bonds, and so forth.

If a land transaction was recorded with a deed, you should also find a reference to the transaction in Sasine records.

Before 1532, deeds are scattered through the Notarial Protocol books. In 1532 when the Court of Session was established, the deeds were recorded in the session and the register was called Acta’ Dominorum Concilii et Sessionis. In 1542 it was changed to the Acts and Decreets, which covers up to the year 1581.

The actual Register of Deeds begins in 1554, but deed transactions were not regularly recorded until 1661. The 1554 register was kept in three series.

• The first series goes from 1554 to 1660 and is indexed from 1555 to 1595. The Family History Library has minute books (brief extracts of originals) that begin on 1542 and go to 1660. You can use these extracts instead of indexes.
• The second series, from 1661 to 1811, has three sections: Durie, Dalrymple, and Mackenzie. (These are the names of the officer that kept the registers.) You will need to search all three sections.