Is North Sea Oil Owned By The Shetland Isles?

Whilst we know that SOME North Sea Oil and Gas is English, does the majority belong to Scotland should it go independent?

Found on-line...

"Is North Sea Oil Owned By The Shetland Isles?

To answer this question you need to do some research into the history of Udal Law in Shetland. The Shetland and Orkney Udal Law group (SOUL) can be found on the Internet and highlights the main points of the argument.

Basically, although Shetland and Orkney are acknowledged as being under Scottish rule since the annexation, the annexation was not entirely legal. Shetland and Orkney were pledged as part of a dowry payment in 1468/9 with the understanding that sovereignty would not be handed over and the islands would be redeemed at a later date when the money could be raised.

The Scottish Crown was fly - even though the Danish/Norwegian Crown made several attempts to regain control of Shetland and Orkney, the Scottish Crown refused. Shetland was increasingly brought under Scottish rule and the issue of sovereignty was never fully addressed.

Under Udal law, outright ownership of land included the seabed - so if Shetland is still legally Scandinavian and Udal law has never been completely replaced, then the seabed around Shetland belongs to Shetland and not to Scotland.

North sea oil around the Shetland basin therefore belongs to Shetland and the Scottish Crown is well aware of this. To openly address the issue of Shetland's sovereignty is thus to make this public knowledge...and the British parliament wouldn't want that...now would they?"

Fascinating!