What does annat mean?
Annat is a noun from Scots law denoting the half-year's rent or interest that falls due at one of Scotland's two traditional term days, Whitsunday and Martinmas. Because Scottish leases historically divided the year into two rental terms rather than one, the payment owed at each term acquired its own name, distinguishing it from the full annual rent. The word belongs to the same family as 'annual' and 'annuity', all tracing back to the Latin 'annus', meaning year. Today annat is essentially obsolete outside legal history: it survives mainly in old Scottish title deeds, leases, and antiquarian discussions of land tenure. For readers of historical documents, however, recognising annat is genuinely useful, since misreading it could obscure what payments were actually owed under an old lease. It is a small but telling reminder of how Scotland's distinctive legal calendar shaped its vocabulary of rent and obligation.
nounIn Scots law, annat is the half-year's rent or interest on money that becomes payable at one of the two Scottish term days (Whitsunday or Martinmas), as distinct from the full year's rent. More broadly, it denotes an annual payment or interest due on a sum of money.
- The half-year's rent or interest payable at either of the two Scottish term days (Whitsunday or Martinmas).
- More generally, an annual or periodic payment of interest or rent on money or property.
"The tenant paid his maills and duties, along with the annat owing at Martinmas."
"Under the old lease, the landlord was entitled to collect the annat at each term day."
"The deed specified that interest would fall due as an annat every Martinmas."
Rarely used in the plural, since documents typically refer to a single payment per term day; when pluralised, 'annats' simply denotes multiple such payments.
"The accounts listed the annats collected over several years."
While most of Britain settled its rents once a year, Scotland split them in two — and the half-payment due at Whitsunday or Martinmas got its own legal name: the annat.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of annat
Annat comes from Scots law and ultimately derives from the Latin 'annus' (year), via forms relating to annual payments; it is thus cognate with English words such as 'annual' and 'annuity'. The term arose because Scottish rents and interest were traditionally payable at the two term days of Whitsunday and Martinmas, so the half-yearly instalment became known as the annat. It has been used in Scottish legal documents since at least the medieval/early modern period and remains part of the technical vocabulary of Scots conveyancing history, though it is no longer in common use.
How annat is actually used
Annat is chiefly a historical and legal term confined to Scots law and older Scottish conveyancing documents; it is essentially obsolete in everyday speech. Readers will encounter it mainly in old leases, title deeds, and legal histories rather than in modern usage.
Easily confused with annat
Annual is an adjective describing something that happens once a year, whereas annat is a noun naming the half-yearly payment of rent or interest itself.
An annuity is a regular yearly payment made over time (often from an investment), while annat specifically refers to the half-year's rent or interest payable at a Scottish term day.