S2.5 Reading the Search Sheet

Search Sheet records have been kept since 1871. Until 1996 Search Sheets were kept as bound paper volumes. Minutes were printed out and glued on to the Search Sheet; earlier Minutes were hand-written. In 1996 the Search Sheet was computerised.

When the Search Sheet was computerised the original bound Search Sheet volumes were taken apart, and each page digitally imaged. No more entries were added to the Imaged Search Sheets (ISS). The images are now stored on computer. Between September 1996 and March 1997, the Computerised Search Sheet (CSS) was introduced for all new entries. The CSS is simply a computerised continuation of the original Search Sheet. It retains the same Search Sheet number, and the two computer systems (Imaged and Computerised) must be read in conjunction with each other.

Understanding the Search Sheet relies on understanding the effect of various deed types recorded in the Sasine Register, and some knowledge of the way in which Minutes are structured.