Can one purchase the title of "Lord", "Laird" or "Lady" in Scotland?

Question

I have recently started receiving Youtube advertisements for "Established titles", claiming to sell you a square foot of land in Scotland, entitling you to call yourself some variant of "Lord".

Their website states:

Our Title Packs are based on a historic Scottish land ownership custom, where landowners have been long referred to as "Lairds", the Scottish term for "Lord", with the female equivalent being "Lady".

It seems that they have a competitor or two offering a similar deal.

Is there any truth to this claim? Can any land owner, let alone someone whose holdings are worth around $50, in Scotland indeed style himself "Laird"?

Answer 1

The Court of the Lord Lyon, the official authority on these things, states on the matter (bolding mine):

A dwelling house of whatever size presents no problem, but the ownership of forestry land or “amenity” land on which there is no house and for which planning permission for a house would not be obtainable would not necessarily be sufficient to bring the owner into the Lord Lyon’s jurisdiction. The ownership of “souvenir” plots of land of a few square feet or thereby such as are marketed from time to time, is insufficient to bring anyone within the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon King of Arms.

So, just getting a coat of arms, let alone the title of Laird, requires ownership of a substantial amount of land. Therefore, the claim is false.

Answer 2

The Law Society of Scotland would like to clarify that this doesn't even really include proper title to the land, let alone the chivalric title.

The Keeper is required to reject an application for registration in the Land Register, if the land to which it relates meets the description of “souvenir plot”. However, the fact that the Keeper is obliged to reject registration does not necessarily mean that “ownership” can be obtained by some other means.

A real right of ownership in land (in the sense of a right that is enforceable against third parties) can only be obtained by registration in the Land Register or by recording a deed in the Register of Sasines as appropriate.

The standard public source for peerage information is Burke's Peerage.

Realistically, you can obtain a real peerage by a substantial donation to the ruling party, Labour or Conservative. This is technically illegal, but in practice nobody has been successfully prosecuted for it recently. The cost of this is about that of a small flat in London.

Answer 3

Yes, you can style yourself as "Laird", but you won't have a title in the sense that you're thinking about.

The fine print on the highlandtitles.com website describes it well:

You obtain a personal right to a souvenir plot of land and our permission to use our registered trademarks, Laird, Lord and Lady of Glencoe

You obtain a personal right to a souvenir plot of land. This is a form of heritable property that you can pass on to future generations. Highland Titles remains as the registered landowner and manages the land on your behalf.

You will be addressed by your choice of Laird, Lord or Lady by us and within our 200,000+ strong community. Please note you cannot buy a noble title. This is for enjoyment purposes only.

(emphasis mine)

What you're buying is a "personal right to a souvenir plot of land". This right is permanent and can be inherited by your heirs. Actual land ownership is retained by the Highland Titles Charitable Trust for Scotland, who sells these plots as a fundraiser for their conservation programs (the plot itself is inside a nature reserve).

The group selling the titles has registered a trademark for the "Laird/Lord/Lady of Glencoe". By purchasing a souvenir plot, they're also giving you a license to use their trademarks. In addition, they'll call you by that name when communicating with you, and other donors/titleholders like to do so as well. That's not the same thing as a real title, though. I doubt anyone else will call you by that title, and there are thousands of other people that also use the same title. The scottishlaird.co.uk website calls them "decorative titles", which is an apt description.

I'm not sure I agree with the 'scam' tag as these don't seem to be intentionally deceptive, although I see where it could be confusing for those who live outside the UK and are unfamiliar with how titles work. It's just a fun little way of rewarding those who donate to their conservation/restoration efforts.

Answer 4

Yes, these purchases do allow you to use the title of "Laird" or "Lord". Please see the official government guidance on titles for passports (.pdf link), which states (p. 13/14):

Bought and styled titles

Bought titles may be sold by internet companies.

...

In the past, holders of bought or styled titles had to write to the Manorial Society of Great Britain for confirmation of the right to use and be known by a title. This society is a private company, in direct competition with many others that deal in the buying and selling of titles.

You must never tell a customer to contact the Manorial Society of Great Britain for confirmation, unless they have bought the title from the society.

You must only add an observation for customers with bought or styled titles, if it’s included in this guidance (for example, a manorial title)

(My emphasis, some text omited). Which clearly states that the passport office will include a title such as these on your passport, what more official record could there be? But wait, what was the bit I omitted:

Styled titles mean self-styled or presumed titles that customers have created for themselves.

Huh. So you could just make up a title for yourself and use that? Yup, you don't actually need to buy the package to call yourself a Lord, you can just do it. This is unsurprising because in the UK, unlike in some countries, your name is simply what you call yourself and you are free to change it to almost anything on a whim: although something like a deed poll is useful to prove that you are going by the new name for formal purposes.

In fact, this applies to all titles in the UK. It even extends to titles like "Dr", unless you're using them to fraudulently misrepresent yourself or mislead the public, as in the famous case of Gilian McKeith.

Of course, calling yourself a Lord doesn't give you any privileges or authority, and you will get short shrift in high society if you tried to use such an internet title. Real and meaningful Lordships are tracked and validated by The Court of the Lord Lyon in Scotland which is also the body responsible for Coats of Arms in Scotland.