Feal And Divot

A right in Scotland,

A right in Scotland, similar to the right of turbary in England for fuel, etc. Wharton. It is a predial servitude peculiar to the law of Scotland, in virtue of which the proprietor of the dominant tenement possesses the right of turning up and carrying off turf from the servient tenement for the purpose of building fences, roofing houses, and the like. This, as well as the servitude of fuel, Implies the right of using the nearest ground of the servient tenement on which to lay and dry the turf peats or fuel. These i^ervitudes do not extend beyond the ordinary uses of the actual occupants of the dominant tenements, and cannot be taken advantage of for such a purpose as to burn limestone for sale. They are not included in the servitude of pasturage, but must be constituted either by express grant, or by possession following on the usual clause of parts and pertinents; Ersk. ii. tit. iz. B. 17. The etymology of these words has been much disputed. Feal or fail Is said to come from the Sulo-Gothic toall, any grassy part of the surface of the ground; and Jamieson derives divot from dcliAC (Sax. delfan or delvan), or, as another alternative, says that it may have been formed by the monkish writers of old charters from defodere, to dig the earth. The former is the more probable conjecture. Int. Cyc.