Control of Structures by Regulations

In bringing under review the present-day question of the control of structures by means of regulations under whatever responsible authority these may have been enacted,
the questions involved by the phrase "in the public interest" are of primary importance. It is true that buildings and other structures are subject to control in purely private interests. In Scotland it is not an infrequent practice to incorporate in feu and other contracts specific conditions which either by means of imposing restrictions on the use ofland or by the direct limitation of the size,materials of construction, and other matters, delimit the type and use of structures erected hereon. Such restrictions may be ineffectuallyimposed where they are contrary to the public interest or to parliamentary enactment, where the superior or other person endeavouring, and once entitled, to enforce them has ceased to be able to show interest to insist on their outcarrying, or where, through having already been breached, they can no longer be upheld on reference to the public law courts. Restrictions or burdens of this kind are of minor importance in respect of the wider control exercised by statutory bodies and relief from them may be obtained by purchase, compensation, or, if need be, by special legislation should no other alternative be more readily reached.

Frank A.B. Preston