[4] The Act officially brought to an end annual feu duties, a vestige of feudal land tenure, on 28 November 2004 (that is, Martinmas, as the Act required the "appointed day" to be one of the Scottish term days).

Tommy Sheridan was one of a number of MSPs who drove this change through the Scottish Parliament.

After that date, the former vassal of an estate was the sole owner of the land, and the former superior's rights were extinguished.

For a further two years, the superior had the option of claiming compensation; this was fixed at a single payment of a size that, when invested at an annual rate of 2.5%, would yield interest equal to the former feu duty.

Because inflation had eroded the value of duties, which had been fixed many years before, this payment was in most cases extremely small compared with the current value of the land.