"The fish that was yesterday miles from shore was claimed by the landlord the moment it reached the shore. And so also were the birds of the air as soon as they flew over his land. The law made it so because the landlords themselves were the lawmakers; and it was a wonder that the poor man was allowed to breathe the air of heaven and drink from the mountain stream without having the factor and the whole of the county police pursuing him as a thief"
This was a submission made to the royal commission in 1884 by a Skye cofter 2 years after the Glendale estates had banned the inhabitants from collecting heather and rushes to repair the roofs of their houses.
The estates response to the submission?
The man was evicted of course and a notice was placed on the door of the post office
"Notice is hereby given, that the shepherds and herds on these lands have instructions to give up the names of any persons found carrying away timber from the shore that they may be dealt with according to the law"
Community land ownership as evidenced at Assynt, Eigg, Harris, South Uist, Lewis et al should ensure that we never return to the worst excesses of greedy bastard landlords.
Strange that it should take so much and so long to return the land to community ownership- the big difference is that this time the community ownership is not held in trust by the community leader- the clan chief- for his descendants to swindle from the people.