Who is Heritor?
A heritor was a privileged person in a parish in Scots law. In its original acceptation, it signified the proprietor of a heritable subject, but, in the law relating to parish government, the term was confined to such proprietors of lands or houses as were liable, as written in their title deeds, for the payment of public burdens, such as the minister's stipend, manse and glebe assessments, schoolmaster's salary, poor rates, rogue-money (for preventing crime) as well as road and bridge assessments, and others like public and county burdens or, more generally, cess, a land tax. A liferenter might be liable to cess and so be entitled to vote as an heritor in the appointment of the minister, schoolmaster, etc. The occasional female landholder so liable was known as a heritrix. In Scotland the term heritor was used to denote the feudal landholders of a parish until the early 20th century. For example, in the early 20th century the heritors of the Highland Parish of Crathie and Braemar wer...
