Runrig meaning

Runrig describes, in Scots property law, arable land where a single field is divided into narrow ridges or strips (rigs) owned by different proprietors, often in alternating or intermingled patterns. This creates mixed ownership within one field and few fixed internal boundaries. The term is chiefly Scots law usage. It is not a standard term in England and Wales or Ireland (where the analogous customary system was known as rundale). Runrig is a historic, descriptive concept rather than a modern statutory definition, though it was recognised and addressed by seventeenth‑century Scottish legislation permitting judicial division and consolidation of runrig lands. It still appears in titles and case law. Key legal features include: separate titles to individual rigs; practical difficulties in identifying precise boundaries; shared or implied rights of access and drainage; and scope for division or consolidation. In modern practice, runrig issues arise in conveyancing, title examination, registration (plans based on sasine descriptions), and boundary disputes. Practitioners should check deeds for historic division or amalgamation, residual servitudes or burdens, and whether any court‑ordered division has regularised title. Outside Scotland, the term is rarely used and has no special legal status.