Lot 146
Golf in St Andrews - the "Rabbit Wars" and the Dempster Case
Rare Books, Maps & Manuscripts
Auction: 4 September 2013 at 12:00 BST
Description
Account The Golfers of St Andrews &c. to Adam Bruce, writer in Edinburgh, eleven pages (9 pages of manuscript and a final blank) covering the solicitor's activities and disbursements during the period Feb. 20th 1803 to Aug. 25th 1807, while continuing the process of action in the Court of Session against the Dempsters over the use of the Linkspaper, paper watermarked 1805, contemporary sewing
Footnote
Note: In 1801 George Cheape, Captain of the Society of St Andrews Golfers complained that rabbits were destroying the Links, at that time owned by Charles Dempster. In 1805, the Court of Session judged that local people had a right to shoot rabbits on the land and a legal battle of some twenty years between the links owner and the golfers became known as the Rabbit Wars. Legal delays by the Dempsters and the technical deliberations of judges such as Lord Ord, Lord Armadale, and the Lord President can sound out of place in what is "an Interdict against killing Rabbits" (their importance always shown by the use of a capital letter). The bill reached the grand total of £286. There are also details of the payments made, and the final page notes the sums received from the subscribing Golfers, which total £36.15s.