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As a general note, we have to observe that Shetland Islands council has been by far that most obstructive of the organisations to which we have addressed FOIs. This request was first made by Stuart Hill on the WhatDoTheyKnow.com website, a site for the public recording of FOIs. Because of technical difficulties, Stuart was unable to answer any reponses on that site, So the request was transferred to The Sovereign Nation of Shetland's account on the same site. This was explained to the SIC, but they persist in saying they are two different requests. Their response to Stuart Hill's request is here
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On 23 January 2025, As The Sovereign Nation of Shetland, we wrote:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
Because of difficulty accessing the request made by Stuart Hill on this matter, we are assuming responsibility for the request as follows:
We are having difficulty finding proof that Shetland is part of Scotland.
According to The Laws of Scotland, Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, Vol.18(42), "The Crown's sovereignty over Scotland and its dominium eminens, its ultimate tenurial superiority, are the same thing, are identical concepts."
At Volume 18(47) it states that "The dominium eminens or ultimate superiority of the Crown is allodial, because not held of a higher lord, except of God".
We want to know:
- Do you accept The Laws of Scotland, Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia as a binding authority? and
- Are we correct in thinking that the Crown's sovereignty is the same as its allodial ownership?
- Are we correct in thinking that, for the Crown to have sovereignty in Shetland, it must have allodial ownership of Shetland?
- If we are correct at 2) and 3) above, do you have proof that the Crown holds the allodial title of Shetland?
Your chief legal officer refuses to give us an answer on this matter. If proof exists, it must be easy to produce.
Please note that we are not asking for an opinion, legal or otherwise. We are seeking information that we have so far been unable to obtain and which we presume you hold as proof of your authority. The above references to Stair are intended to assist you. They are simply matters of fact on which we are not asking any opinion.
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 23 January 2025 the SIC wrote:
Regarding your email below, can you please provide your full name for this to be a valid FOI request under the legislation.
Regards
FOI Co-ordinator
Shetland Islands Council
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On 23 January 2025, we wrote:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
Thank you for your response. We note the following:
From the ICO website:
"To be valid under the Act, the request must:
be in writing. This could be a letter or email. Requests can also be made via the web, or even on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter if your public authority uses these;
include the requester's real name. The Act treats all requesters alike, so you should not normally seek to verify the requester's identity. However, you may decide to check their identity if it is clear they are using a pseudonym or if there are legitimate grounds for refusing their request and you suspect they are trying to avoid this happening, for example because their request is vexatious or repeated. Remember that a request can be made in the name of an organisation, or by one person on behalf of another, such as a solicitor on behalf of a client."
"The requester's real name is The Sovereign Nation of Shetland, an organisation for the purposes of the relevant legislation and
We note that "you should not normally seek to verify the requester's identity" and
"Remember that a request can be made in the name of an organisation"
From Informationrequeststhenameoftherequesterorapplicant.pdf (itspublicknowledge.info):
"9. All requests must name the person making the request. (Again, remember that a "person" may be a company or organisation.)" and
"14. The Commissioner expects public authorities to check the validity of a request only where there are reasonable grounds for believing that the request might not be valid. Otherwise, the Commissioner expects the authority to simply deal with the request" and
"19. If the request has been made by a company or organisation, then a request made in the name of the company or organisation will be valid." and
"22. While it may be helpful to have a named contact for corresponding with a company or organisation in response to a request, this is not essential as the company/organisation name is sufficient for the request to be valid"
Kindly provide the information as requested.
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 23 January 2025 the SIC wrote:
Regarding your further email received today, I can advise that the Council remains satisfied that its initial assessment of your email, received at 12.39, is correct even in light of the sender's latest representations seeking to argue the contrary and that, accordingly, the matter will not be progressed as an FOI request.
Regards
FOI Co-ordinator
Shetland Islands Council
It seems the SIC thinks themselves above the law.
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On 23 January 2025, we requested an internal review:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Shetland Islands Council's handling of my FOI request 'Proof of authority'.
Your refusal runs contrary to the authorities I have quoted. The Scottish government initially refused an FOI request on the same basis, but reversed their decision when given the same information I have just given you. I quote from their response as follows:
"We replied on the basis that your request was invalid because you had not provided a name under
which the request was being made.
I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.
I have concluded that you have provided a name, The Sovereign Nation of Shetland, and therefore that
your original request is valid request under FOISA. Therefore, we will now proceed to deal with that."
Unless you feel superior to the Scottish government, I ask you to reverse your decision, otherwise this will be a blatant neglect of your duty under the legislation.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/proof_of_authority_3#outgoing-1795517
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 25 January 2025, we added:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
We believe that the Shetland Islands Council may be operating without authority. It is our reasonable expectation that it will hold information that proves its authority. These are our grounds for requesting a review:
- We are not seeking any legal opinion. Reference to any legal matters in our request was merely to assist you in locating the information requested.
- If you do not hold this information, we will be happy to accept that as an answer, but it will then be our reasonable presumption that you have no proof of your authority.
- https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ... at 68:
"The information sought would be of value to the requester or to the public or any section of the public."
- The name 'The Sovereign Nation of Shetland' is a valid name and is the real name of the organisation.
- You may not refuse to give information on the basis of who we are.
- FOISA/EIRs Guidance at 14: "The Commissioner expects public authorities to check the validity of a request only where there are reasonable grounds for believing that the request might not be valid. Otherwise, the Commissioner expects the authority to simply deal with the request."
In the Shetland Islands Council's " ARRANGEMENTS FOR APPEALS", Jan-Robert Riise is named as the recipient for any appeal. Mr. Riise will not be acceptable to us as a reviewer due to a long history of failed enquiry on this subject and his demonstrable hostility to our organisation.
Your replies are addressed to Stuart Hill. This request is in the name of The Sovereign Nation of Shetland. Although Stuart Hill is an authorised representative of of The Sovereign Nation of Shetland, he is not the enquirer/applicant in this instance. Please address your responses to the correct recipient. Not to do so will be seen as an intent to evade your responsibility.
These grounds are to be added to those in our previous communication.
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 27 January 2025, we wrote:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
We are concerned that Shetland Islands Council should break the law by refusing to make a reply on the ground that the request is invalid for lack of a correct name, when we have pointed out that the Scottish government reversed their decision made on the same ground. In view of the fact that the request was refused on different grounds when made by Stuart Hill is evidence of attempts to evade answering this request at any cost.
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 27 January 2025 the SIC wrote in response to our request for an internal review:
I acknowledge receipt of your email below.
You will receive a response to your request for a review from the Council as quickly as possible, but within 20 working days.
If you do not receive a response by 27 February 2025, please contact us again.
FOI co-ordinator
Shetland Islands Council
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On 27 January 2025, mistaking the above for a reversal of their decision, we wrote:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
Thank you for your response reversing your decision.
We note that you have extended the deadline for reply. We do not accept any need for this and ask for you confirmation that you will reply by 20 February 2025 as the original request, otherwise this will be seen as a further attempt to delay or evade answering.
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 27 January 2025 we got a swift rebuff:
This was an acknowledgement of your request for a review of the Council's decision to require you to provide a name - it was not a reversal of the decision.
You will receive a response on that review shortly.
Regards
FOI Administrator
Shetland Islands Council
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On 27 January 2025, we wrote:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
Apologies for the misunderstanding.
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 27 January 2025, we wrote:
Dear Shetland Islands Council,
While you conduct your internal review on whether our request is valid on the basis of the validity of the name of the requester, it may help you to know that the following organisations, having first rejected the request on the basis of an invalid name, then reversed their decision based on the information the same as we sent to you.
Those organisations are:
Crown Estates Scotland
The Scottish government
DVLA
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
You can verify this information at: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/user/the_...
We hope this will be of assistance.
Yours faithfully,
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland
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On 27 January 2025, the SIC gave the results of their review. They are refusing the request on the basis that this request is identical to the one by Stuart Hill. which was refused on the basis that he was asking for a legal opinion. They have tried to refuse this one on the basis of the name. We are asking for information that any organisation working in Shetland must have at their fingertips, but the obfuscation is obvious and smacks of a cover-up, but they admit that they do not hold the information:
I refer to your email below, received on 23 January 2025, requesting a
review of the Council's decision to refuse your request due to our
requirement for you to provide the name of a real person.
This has been reviewed, and whilst the Council is aware of your
organisation, we previously received an identical request, and so the
Council is obliged to ensure that this is not a repeat request from the
same individual. Therefore I can advise that the Council remains
satisfied that its initial assessment of this matter is correct, and your
request is not a valid request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland)
Act 2002 [FOISA]. If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of this
review, you may appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. (Emphasis added).
Details explaining how to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner
are contained in the enclosed leaflet.
However, and in order to assist, I can advise you the following
explanation was provided by the Council in response to an identical
request from an individual, under the terms of the FOISA, as follows:
Request:
- Do you accept The Laws of Scotland, Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia as a
binding authority? and
- Are we correct in thinking that the Crown's sovereignty is the same as
its allodial ownership?
- Are we correct in thinking that, for the Crown to have sovereignty in
Shetland, it must have allodial ownership of Shetland?
- If we are correct at 2) and 3) above, do you have proof that the Crown
holds the allodial title of Shetland?
Response:
- The 2002 Act provides a right of access to recorded information. With
this fundamental aspect of the 2002 Act in mind, I have assessed that you
are not requesting recorded information but are instead seeking a legal
opinion and/or advice relative to your own understanding of the
constitutional status of the Shetland Islands vis-a-vis Scotland.
- As a result of my assessment, as set out in paragraph 2 above, please
treat this letter as constituting notice pursuant to section 17 of the
2002 Act that the information requested is "not held" by the Council. (Emphasis added)
- In cognisance of the Council's duty under section 15 of the 2002 Act,
and bearing in mind the ostensibly constitutional nature of what you have
asked about in the Request Email, you may instead wish to direct your
queries or concerns in respect of same to the Scottish or UK Governments.
- Incidentally, whereas not forming part of my assessment relative to the
Request Email, above, I understand that Mr Riise has already been in touch
with you to provide details confirming the Council's ownership of certain
heritable property in Shetland; all as would be evidenced by way of formal
deeds or titles recorded at either the General Register of Sasines or the
Land Register of Scotland. Again, in cognisance of the said section 15,
you may wish to direct any concerns you may have on this matter to the
Keeper of the Registers of Scotland and/or the Police Service of Scotland
should you believe that the Council's title to any particular heritable
property is in any way fraudulent.
- In respect of formal documentation evidencing heritable proprietorship
of land and/or buildings in Shetland belonging to a third party (namely
the Crown), the Council has no information in respect of such matters and,
relative to same, I would refer you back to the terms of paragraph 3
above.
I trust you find this helpful.
Regards
FOI Co-ordinator
Shetland Islands Council
Review ID 83
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The SIC does not hold the information that the Crown owns Shetland.
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