Sasines are found in Scotland. They are records of land changing hands (whether by sale or inheritance), of mortgages, and of anything that involved the transfer of rights or assets associated with land. Rights can include such things as coal and the fish in streams and rivers.

Sasines go back a long way (to the 1500s). An effective system of registration started in 1617. The proper name is an instrument of sasine. It recorded the act of transfer, which at one time was more than just signing papers--giving a handful of earth, for example.

From 1617 until 1868, the system did not change; there was a General Register and a Particular Register of sasines. The former was used for properties spread across two or more counties and for registrations from any part of Scotland except the counties around Edinburgh (East, Mid, and West Lothian). The Particular Registers were only for transfers within the district named. Burghs were not part of the original legislation but in 1681 royal burghs were directed to keep their own registers. Smaller burghs appear with the county.

A simplified system of a single register arranged by counties continued for another hundred years into the 1970s.

About Contents
Information on a record includes description of the property, names of the persons involved, price, type of transaction, date, time, and witnesses. Often sasines include family history facts if, for example, property passed from one family member to another or siblings shared in ownership. Many sasines make reference to other sasines, giving sufficient facts to find them.

Generally these records are about well-to-do persons and exclude cottars and tenants. There are two other drawbacks: map references do not appear until the 1800s and Latin is the language used until the late 1700s.

Do not let these points deter you though. Assumptions about any family not being in these records can mean valuable information is missed. Sometimes, in the property descriptions, clues are given about people residing in adjacent properties. As for the Latin or unusual Scots terminology, there are guides that can help.

Finding Aids
The best finding aids are for the period after 1780. Volumes of abridgements begin at this time, as well as indexes to them (people, until 1868, and places, until 1830). The abridgements (arranged by county regardless of which register the sasines appeared in) give the essential details, often including all the facts useful to genealogists. These abridgements and their indexes have been filmed and are available in the Family History Library (FHL) or through Family History Centers. Abridgements do not include the burgh registers.

For sasines before 1781, there are indexes, but not for all years and places; seven counties have no indexes, and the royal burghs are partially covered. Minute books (summary records) can be used instead. Some of the available indexes have been published and some are in typescript form; there is a good selection in the FHL. If you read the Scotland Research Outline in the Research Helps section of the FamilySearch site (www.familysearch.org), there is a table summarizing burgh sasines indexes available in the FHL and the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). The best overall list of pre-1781 finding aids is at the NAS website (www.nas.gov.uk), within the available "fact sheets" (where a good description of sasines can also be found).

Conclusion
In my own research, relationships have been resolved, and "lost" ancestors found because of information in sasines. This is a series of records that is pretty well complete for two hundred years, from 1660 to 1868, and for ninety years it has superb finding aids that are readily accessible. Sasines are definitely worth a look.

By the way, I have heard many pronunciations for “sasines,” but the one that seems to be used most consistently is to make the word rhyme with "raisins."

Further Reading
Peter Goldsborough (comp.), Formulary of Old Scots Legal Documents,(Stair Society) Edinburgh, 1985.

Irvine, Sherry. Scottish Ancestry: Research Methods for Family Historians. Ancestry, 2003.

Irvine, Sherry. "A Scots Mist Weel Wet an Englishman to the Skin.” (Ancestry Daily News, 13 July 2004). About the Scots language and where to look up words.

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing in English and Scottish family history. She is the author of Your English Ancestry (2d ed, 1998) and Your Scottish Ancestry (1997) and she is a regular contributor to several journals including Genealogical Computing. Since 1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She teaches online for the family history program of Vermont College and has lectured at conferences in Canada, the United States, and Australia. She is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.