Casualties of Superiority

Casualties of Superiority, in the feudal law of Scotland, are such emoluments arising to the superior as depend on uncertain events. The casualties of ward, marriage, and recognition were abolished along with the military tenure of Wardholding (q.v.), of which they were incidents, shortly after the Jacobite rebellions. The casualties of non-entry, relief or composition, and Escheat (q.v.) still exist along with the tenures of feu and blench, of which they are incidents. The Conveyancing Act of 1874, however, abolishes legal casualties (i.e. irrespective of agreement) in feus granted after 1874, and prohibits even conventional casualties unless they are of fixed amount, payable at fixed intervals. The name casualty is therefore now inappropriate. The same statute provides for the compulsory redemption of casualties by the feuar; the superior, however, may decide whether he will take a lump payment or an additional feu-duty.