Main Publications
The Poor Had No Lawyers (New Edition 2024)
 | Nov 2024 The Poor Had No Lawyers Who Owns Scotland? How did they get it? What happened to all the common land in Scotland? Has the Scottish Parliament made any difference? Can we get our common good land back? In The Poor Had No Lawyers, Andy Wightman, author of Who Owns Scotland, updates the statistics of landownership in Scotland and takes the reader on a voyage of discovery into Scotland’s history to find out how and why landowners got their hands on the millions of acres of land that were once held in common. Available from all good bookshops but please do not buy from Amazon (I get paid pennies) |
| Nov 2025 Second Stage 3 Briefing for MSPs on Land Reform (Scotland) Bill Download Blog post here | |
| Nov 2025 First Stage 3 Briefing for MSPs on Land Reform (Scotland) Bill Download Blog post here | |
 | May 2025 Large Scale Rural Land Sales 2023 An analysis of all sales of rural land in 2023 of over 500ha in extent Download Blog post here |
| March 2025 Stage One Briefing for MSPs on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill Download Blog post here | |
 | March 2025 Who Owns Scotland 2024. An analysis of the state of landownership in Scotland in 2024 Download Blog post here |
 | January 2025 Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. An analysis of landholdings within the scope of the Bill Download Blog post here |
| May 2024 My response to the Scottish Parliament’s call for evidence at Stage One of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill Download Blog post here | |
 | Feb 2024 Large Scale Rural Land Sales 2020-2022 An analysis of all sales of rural land in 2020-22 of over 500ha in extent Download Blog post here |
| Another document | |
 | June 2014 A Land Value Tax for Northern Ireland by Ronan Lyons & Andy Wightman A report commissioned by the Northern ireland Council for Voluntary Action’s Centre for Economic Empowerment Download (10 Mb pdf) |
 | Feb 2014 Renewing Local Democracy in Scotland A report commissioned by the Scottish Green Party MSP group Download |
 | March 2013 A Land Value Tax for England. Fair, Efficient, Sustainable A report commissioned by Caroline Lucas MP Download (4 Mb pdf) |
 | January 2013 Evidence submitted to the Land reform Review Group Download (8.2Mb pdf) |
 | February 2012 Forest Ownership in Scotland 2012 The first ever detailed analysis of who owns Scotland’s forests. Commissioned by the Forest Policy Group, the report exposes the remarkable pattern of private ownership of forestry – the most concentrated in Europe. Download (5.7Mb pdf) |
 | May 2011 Donald Trump’s Ego Trip. Lessons for the New Scotland A detailed investigation into the goings on at Menie Estate where Donald Trump is building “the gretest golf course in the world”. It includes an examination of land grabbing, intimidation, compulsory purchase orders, police involvement and the media response in north-east Scotland. Download (9Mb pdf) See also further resources here |
 | March 2011 Union Terrace Gardens – History and Legal Status A detailed investigation into the history of Union terrace Gardens in Aberdeen concluding that the land is common good land. Download (1.5Mb pdf) |
 | March 2011 Land Reform – The Way Ahead A report commissioned by the Scottish Community Alliance which documents and analyses what has happened to the bold programme of land reform launched in 1999 and makes recommendations for how a new programme might be framed. Download (1.2Mb pdf) |
 | October 2010 A Land Value tax for Scotland This report was commissioned by the Scottish Green Party MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and provides an analysis of how LVT could be implemented in Scotland and what the consequences would be. It includes detailed financial impacts and proposals. Download (4.1Mb pdf) |
| August 2009 Common Good – A Quick Guide A Quick Guide to common good including definitions, the law, list of burghs and how to find out more. Download (8.1Mb pdf) | |
Common Good – a quick guide (August 2009)
A Quick Guide to common good including definitions, the law, list of burghs and how to find out more.
Download (8.1Mb pdf)
Community Land Rights. A Citizen’s Guide (July 2009)
Community Land Rights is the first comprehensive overview of land rights that belong to communities in Scotland. It focuses on the range of common land that exists throughout rural and urban Scotland and provides a how-to guide to undertaking research into common good land, commonties, commons and other forms of commonly held land.
Coming soon as a download (March 2023)
Common Good Land in Scotland. A review and critique (November 2005)
The report that ignited the debate on Common Good Land in Scotland.
Download (1.3Mb pdf)
Hunting and Hegemony in the Highlands of Scotland: a study in the ideology of landscapes and landownership (September 2004)
A paper published by the Centre for International Environment and Development Studies at the Agricultural University of Norway. September 2004.
Download (880kb pdf)
Common Land in Scotland. A brief overview.
Andy Wightman, Robin Callander and Graham Boyd (December 2003)
Download (548kb pdf)
Wightman et al 2002 “The Cultural Politics of Hunting: Sporting Estates and Recreational Land use in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland”
Culture, Sport, Society Vol. 5 No. 1 pp. 53-70
Download
Politics, Power & the Public Interest
The 1999 John McEwen Memorial Lecture (August 1999)
The final lecture in the McEwen Lecture series given by Andy Wightman at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Download (375kb pdf)
Scotland: Land and Power. The agenda for land reform (Luath, 1999)
Who Owns Scotland (Canongate, 1996)
A major survey and analysis of landownership in Scotland. This book is currently out of print but copies can be picked up on abebooks.co.uk.