Heritor

A heritor was a privileged person in a parish in Scots law. In its original acceptation, it signified the proprietor of an heritable subject, but, in the law relating to parish government, the term was confined to such proprietors of lands or houses as were liable, as written in their title deeds, for the payment of public burdens, such as the minister's stipend, manse and glebe assessments, schoolmaster's salary, poor rates, rogue-money (for preventing crime) as well as road and bridge assessments, and others like public and county burdens or, more generally, cess, a land tax. A liferenter might be liable to cess and so be entitled to vote as an Heritor in the appointment of the minister, schoolmaster, etc. The occasional female landholder so liable was known as an heritrix.