⚖ Ugh, the *UK* legal system, not the *English* legal system! I know that, d'oh! 🎗 Get your GiveWell donation matched up to $100! legaleagle.link/givewell
I got a few plots of land to sell on Musk's Mars Imperium...Interested? They come with your own ''Overloard of Mars'' title that you can stamp on you floating self driving rover... ☺☺☺
There is an English legal system (mostly Shared with Wales I think?), but it's separate from the Scottish legal system. We have a separate courts and in particular the laws and practices around the sale/purchase of land are quite different, as well as a separate registry of land ownership - as you showed a few minutes later on. Northern Ireland is also separate from England & Wales and also Scotland.
So, excuse me, but, as a lawyer (I am at 12'26" where I paused), aren't you used to read the small prints of a "legal" document or agreement in whatever form? Serious question, since, I would assume, reading the small print ... would be an obvious to a lawyer? Or am I wrong here, sir?
"Sir Leeggaalle" (from the reply about the Onion article you posted :) ): Shouldn't it be DUH instead of DOH, as DOH is the exclamation (courtesy of Homer Simpson) of one's own understanding he made a "boo-boo" (read: blatant error)? XD (Just want to make sure, Mark Groening won't sue you for misusing his DOH.) (Onionism)
Objection: the English legal system and the Scottish legal system are separate systems. We don't even have the same set of possible verdicts in Scottish criminal cases.
@Gustav Kuriga I will try to answer your question but I don't know WHICH one of my Comments yours is a reply to. If I knew, I'd answer. The Comment that I am replying to is "You do realize that your logic goes the opposite way too, right? By that same logic, how can you know any deal is legit?".
In the same statement, they warned that people should NOT go to the bank and try to get a loan using their new title, but then said you could title yourself and go to the bank and get a credit card (and a plane ticket) with your title in front of your legal name. Even the company couldn’t give a clear explanation without contradictions and corrections lol
_You can buy a one square foot plot of land in Scotland_ AND _call yourself a lord or lady_ . Yes it is true. But the sentence was purposely constructed in an ambiguous misleading way. Because one thing has nothing to do with the other. The two things are both true, and independent of each other. You can call yourself a lord or lady today, in the manner Established Titles described WITHOUT buying anything. I can buy a one square foot souvenir plot of land and eat this chicken sandwich in front of me right now. Or I can NOT buy the land, and still eat the sandwich. It is already here, sitting on my dining table. I made it myself.
@Walt to put Dr on my credit card I had to show them my letter of conferral for my PhD, as my bank considered it a name change for which they needed proof. Though other banks might have different policies.
I was very surprised you didn't mention the Wayback machine. Because if you use that, you'd see that initially the Established Titles website didn't refer to it as a novelty gift. They added that paragraph later so they can put their hands in the air and say "it's always been clear on the website. You knew exactly what you were getting if you looked at the website". But it was initially explained in a way that made it look much more legitimate, further proving that they were indeed trying to scam you. Also, I've seen several content creators apologize for ever running these sponsorship segments and some even explain the guidelines and checks they have for determining if they want to take the sponsorship deal. The click explained how he initially had five sponsorship segments for them booked. He started noticing red flags and comments about the company after one or two of those segments had aired and decided to not air the rest of the segments. He did further research and declined any further offers from the company, even noting in his apology video that they started to make offers for a ridiculous amount of sponsored segments in videos within a very short time frame. Double digits within a month. I'd seen a few videos with the Established Titles sponsorship in them, but never thought anything of it. They had me going "ah, that is funny. Guess the Scottish have some seriously bonkers customs after all. Probably too expensive for me though. I'm never going to have enough money to visit there anyway, so why would I need it? ". After the first one, my brain just filtered it out and after the second one i just started skipping the segments. It was annoying just like any other sponsor or ad that isn't interesting to me and I just wanted to get back to the video. I didn't care so i didn't pay attention to them, only occasionally noting that everyone seemed to be hopping on the trend.
They had to add the label for idiots. It's like selling "X-Ray Goggles" and having a massive outrage that your very obviously not real goggles are fake, so you have to add a disclaimer. If you need to be told that something is a novelty or gag item, then you're exactly the kind of person this gift is meant for.
@Grimloch Volek "Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more." The wayback machine's hosted on there.
What I love about this whole scam is that no one who owns these companies are from the UK. If they were they would know we have alot of old weird laws that are still technically there but aren't enforced for example a pregnant lady can technically stop a policeman and pee in his helmet 😂
This is why I chose to support the Principality of Sealand instead. Lordship through their website actually comes via royal decree. Sure, the princes are just a couple of chill dudes living in an old military installation, but they're royalty nonetheless!
@JABRIEL251 Hard to miss the similarities, but if you don't mind I want to point out some differences I find interesting: If I understand the video correctly, since the plot of land is actually not registered anywhere officially for the buyer, the only one keeping a record of the contractual right is the company and the buyer whereas with NFTs the whole point is that there is no centralized authority who has a database of who owns what, but everyone taking part in the blockchain is logging that the buyer of the NFT now owns it. The thing is, that since there are many blockchains, who decides ownership of a thing that multiple NFTs on different blockchains claim to be evidence of? Another key difference is how it is used. NFTs primary use (at least what it seems like) is trading i.e. betting, that someone else might buy it from you later for a higher price while with the plots of land must people probably just want to own them as a gag or because they were misled and think this is the key to be officially recognized as a laird. Technically though NFTs could be used for all sorts of things. You could also have a company like Established Titles confirm the contractual rights with NFTs so that the blockchain they would choose for this is another "witness" to the contractual right.
They’ve had this scam for years and years. Have they just been reselling the same “plots” over and over? This is as equally as bad as buying and naming a star after someone.
I object! Why would anyone really truly believe just anyone can be royalty? If we’re all royals then none of us are Royal. This is simply a fun gift while helping to plant trees.
What I hate about all these conversation insitutes is they take money from people generally wanting to help the enviroment as well as in some cases money from goverment pay outs for conserving enviroment and actually litteraly do none of it, never mind the lord lady non sense the real problem is they are taking money from people who are trying to charitably save land. Which is not being saved
I don't think you're quite appreciating how small a square foot is. One acre is 43,560 square feet. Let's say that all of these businesses combined, and over their lifetimes (bear in mind that there's no way anyone was doing large volumes of this in the '90s) comes out to 10MM square feet. That's just 230 acres of Scottish woodlands, and almost certainly consists of oddly-shaped plots between other properties that hold no market value. I'm not saying that no one is double-selling land allocations, because greed, but there's really no need for anyone to do so.
I have a friend who is a admin assistant for a lord. He has a vacation property in Georgia, USA. I asked her what he thinks of this. She said that in one way he was happy because when he visited the US previously, most of the people he met told him that the only lord they were aware of was Jesus. But on the other hand, now that Americans are well aware of the title of lord, Scottish Titles has greatly cheapened it. They think he paid $49.95 on a website.
I'm from Scotland and I used to work in the agricultural world and I met plenty of 'Lairds' which simply means a landholder and does not mean that person is a member of the aristocracy (although, of course, some are). Also, as you point out, aristocratic titles and arms etc are bestowed by the Lord Lyon of Scotland and not by some commercial company!
Man they do this on purpose! Just like the pyramid schemes. They encourage their independent sellers to say essential oils cure this and that but when people complain the company says oh we aren't responsible for what our independent sellers say about the product. Scam for sure.
I'm going to be honest I never even considered this might be seen as a scam or technically be a scam. I always saw it as a silly novelty playing on the idea of a "land lord" by selling you a square inch of land. Same thing with the "buy a star" things, I just saw them as fun novelties, I never considered that people might buy into them genuinely thinking they get to name a star.
This is literally the same scam the "Buy a Star" people pulled. They would send a certificate with a listed dedicated star, but it isn't recognized on any registry other than the company's. And since they are essentially selling nothing but a piece of paper and frame, they could pour all their money into advertisements.
@RossetaStoned91 All true, but I don't think it needs to be official to be fun. For as long as you're alive, that star can have your name. It's like... naming a boulder after yourself on a hike route you're always taking. It's named after you for as long as you're willing to believe it, for your entire life if you want. But someone else might have a different name for it entirely. You just can't take it too seriously. It's still fun to know someone out there has a registry that claims that star by your name, and you have a certificate to match. (If you can't tell, I had a "star named after me" as a 9-yr-old and when I got it, I read all the booklets that came with it that told me clearly the name wasn't official. But I still loved it!) Still... When it comes to actual landownership with an "established title," it's quite different.
@Megharoni You say that but your not actually 'officially' naming any of them. There is a whole scientific community that have identified and named a vast number of stars visible by the naked eye, but the names of stars sold to customers by that company mean absolutely nothing to them or any type of global community. The only register the stars name is listed in when you 'buy' one is the companies so there is nothing official about them. An astronomy professor I had told me it broke his heart once because he had to explain to a couple that the star they named after their baby that passed couldn't be pointed out by it's name because in all respects there wasn't a star that had actually been labeled that.
That at least makes more sense because there are countess stars in the sky and there's nothing wrong with the idea of naming them, especially when you also recieve the offical star's name, which is just some letters and numbers. But trying to sell land, here, on earth, when laws and stuff exist around this? Bizarre plan to even try it.
everytime I saw this ad on youtubers videos; I always thought to myself, "you can't even visit the land, they can literally just re-sell the same plot to multiple people and no one would know or care."
They advertised last year that you could visit the land if you were in Scotland. It was on the FAQ page. The claim was you could have a picnic there but that you'd want to buy a larger piece of land, or it might get cramped. Apparently that was just a straight up lie. Edited - Turns out I purchased from Highland Titles, not Established Titles...easy to see how I'd be confused though all things considered.
As a relatively average intelligent, college grad (albeit in a Social Science) I read through the regular word documents, as well as the fine prints repeatedly. And I was wrong. Somewhere, I had mislead myself into believing that Established Titles was selling me a 4x4 square foot plot of land. Or at least access to it. I checked the location. I looked on google maps. In my head, I genuinely thought I could fly out to Scotland, and camp at this little four foot by four foot plot of land. There were articles stating a requirement to keep the natural look of the land or something of the such. So, in my head, I thought, "Okay, I can't get a fire there, and probably can't cook, but I should be able to curl up in a sleeping bag and stay for the night."
They advertised it as such on their website. Last year when I bought it as a gift for my parents there was a section of the QA that asked whether you could see your plot when you were in Scotland. The answer they gave was yes, and that if you wanted to you could stay on that plot of land for the night or have a picnic (though they admitted that you would need to get one of the larger land packages for that to be feasible). I have no idea if they changed it in the last year, but it was incredibly misleading and I would assume some people purchased larger plots of land to maybe one day visit. Edited - Turns out I purchased from Highland Titles, not Established Titles...easy to see how I'd be confused though all things considered.
I mean the good news is you can absolutely fly out here and go camping. Quite possibly on that exact spot. Legally. With a cooking fire. Though of course I am not your solicitor so don't just take my word for it.
when i was in scotland the tourguide said that scottish people are very serious abought their land and after i saw the established title it reminded me of what the guide said and seeing you cover this now i can see pretty quickly that yes they have ALOT of laws on land ownership
Established titles is basically doing the same thing my mom did when I was 5 and she gave a nasa certificate that said i was the most beautiful person in the planet lmao
@MicaiahBaron It's gibs. It's the government taking your money then handing it back with strings attached. I live in a country with "free" healthcare. There is no marketplace of options, there's the option the politicians pick and a waiting line so long it might as well not exist. After taxes it still ends up more expensive than private healthcare, which anyone who can afford it buys. I'm sorry, but you're seriously deluded if you think we can just pass a few laws and make ourselves all as pampered as the political class. If we can do so much better then why hasn't anyone? Every western country is stuck in a late stage democracy, all pretending to each other that elections still matter and we have some kind of "power in government." The reality is that the government is our enemy and the more power it has the more subdued we are. "Democracy" is lipstick on a pig.
@Peter Houlihan Universal basic income is BASE income, then you work for more. Not income being set by the government. Look it up, it's really cool. Free healthcare could still keep a marketplace of options, which the government pays for. Think what we already have but actually covering everything, and for everyone (not just politicians). It's the same benefits our politicians already give themselves, weird that you think they deserve it more than me do. Democracy is about people having the power in government, and having the ability to exercise it. What we have right now isn't democracy; it's a neoliberal oligarchy. We can do so much better, and I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to actually have power in government.
Just something I thought was a bit funny is how they're using the kind of evasive "politician speak" on their website. That's usually a pretty good indicator that something isn't right. Like the part where "you can choose to call yourself laird, or lord, or lady". You will not BECOME one, but you can CHOOSE to call YOURSELF that. I can also choose to call myself the King of England, the President of the United States, or the Master of the Universe. (Have you met my friend Adam? He's a prince! With a giant skull castle and everything.) Nobody is going to actually recognize those claims in any official capacity, but I can still choose to say it.
I made a video about this a bit back and a commenter convinced me that it was obvious they weren't being serious. I was worried that maybe I was overracting and put it under private, but now that I'm seeing more and more people come out and discover what I did I think I'll put it back up.
Someone I worked with in 2018 was given a couples package of this for her wedding a few years prior to that. She thought she was allowed to say she was a lady on forms. It went around, where I'm from in England at least, it was believed that this was a real thing. I'm glad it's come out that this is just a gimmick
@Creative Carrie In the UK some noble titles (actual ones, recognised by the government) are attached land ownership. So if you buy the right manor you become a lord or baron or something and might even gain other privileges like the right to wear a hat in the presence of the king. It's also a legal fiction used to resign a seat in the house of commons: The departing MP formally takes up residency in the barony of the chilton hundreds, which makes him a noble and therefore ineligable to sit in commons. Then when the next MP resides he formally passes the barony to them. I don't think anyone actually addresses them as baron though since if they're resigning it's usually because of a scandal and they probably don't want to draw attention to it.
@Samuel SchickIt's normal here to call (secondary school/high school) teachers sir/miss, or use their title like Mr/Mrs/Miss Jones. That's interesting. I'd assume that Lord of the manor would be in the historical sense rather than a peerage position, but even so, I'd be proud if my kid did that!
My son went to a school where the students had to address the male teachers as Lord _______ and the female teachers Lady______. Well researching my family tree one of my great grandfathers was the Count of Borculo in the Netherlands on my fathers side. On my mothers side they were Lords of the Manor in UK. My son had a ball with that when I would go to his school. He would address them as Mr. Mrs. Miss and not Lord or Lady. When they told him he should address them with those titles he had a simple reply. " If anyone here should be addressed as Lord then it is my father as he is the closest one here to a real Lord." Did I mention son is a smart ass? LOL
I feel bad for people who bought this for a loved one for Christmas thinking how cool it was going to be to explain to them what they got, and now there are dozens of videos explaining how they got scammed.
This just happened to me - I heard about this whole scam as it was coming out. Based on some of the ad examples at start, I guess my parents saw it on Ben Shaprio or Matt Walsh and thought it was legit, cause my fiancée and I are now apparently an official lord and lady.
@Peter Houlihan Well, to you and me, yeah. But its a question of how far can you push deceptive advertising? Where is the line of embellishment when it comes to advertising? Even if not a scam, you have to agree their language was deceptive. To us it might seen obvious but you have to put yourself in someone elses shoes here. What if they were old? Or mentally handicapped? Or just too trusting? Does that make it ok to take advantage of someone due to their shortcomings? I hate that way of thinking cuz its very selfish. What if it was one of your loved ones? Its easy to lose yourself in an ego trip of thinking your smarter then everyone else but unless your profiting from the same tactics, it gains you nothing but an ego boost; while screwing over others. An obvious scam is still a scam. Even if this isnt a classical scam.
I don't feel bad at all for anyone who got seriously taken in by this. Less than a minute's thought should have made it obvious it's just a novelty gift.
@CrimsonVipera I just wanna add that the problem was never that they dont work with charities but rather the specifics of it: i.e how much out of the sales are they donating to planting? Is it a dollar a tree or...? Thats what the problem is with est titles. The way they word their sales to mean things. Oh and dont worry about the people who insult you. Clearly they dont know what theyre talking about so result to insults as theyre too simple of mind to have an actual discussion. You can still find common ground and respect for the other side no matter the disagreement.
Tbh you could run this scam with one piece of land and just keep selling it to multiple people. I think this is a variation on a classic scam where someone sells something the person can't see with a non-physical value attached (the title) and are told they will hold onto it. Because people are focused on the value not the object it can be resold over and over
@Alblaka Sounds like you may be a fan of established titles? Did you buy one? My point is you don't need thousands of acres to run the scam, however in Scotland there is a minimum size of unoccupied land you can sell and take ownership of so i suspect that is why
You could, but why resell the same minimal-size square over and over, when you're a real estate company with access to acres of hard-to-sell low-value land? Those tiny squares are essentially the garbage left-overs of their actual business, so by double-tapping them, they would not make any real additional profit, but set themselves up with a corpse in the closet. It's very clear they're trying their hardest to avoid any legally problematic aspects, so I'd actually believe they don't sell the same parcel of land twice.
As a Scot this makes me kinda mad. Established titles does nothing to protect our tiny woodlands. Those trees that we once had were taken a long time ago😂 And they aint coming back. Even if they plant 100000 Million trees...
@RompotMechanikos Forest of Dean, Ashdown Forest, New Forest, Sherwood Forest (of Robin Hood fame). The UK has lots of large woodlands, such that just over an eighth of its land area is forest and woodlands. The largest won't be as big as America's largest but they are there and they are sizeable. Less common in Scotland, however, and the historical woodlands used to be much MUCH larger. As in nearer 20% in the medieval period and even greater the further you go back, up until you hit the ice age, obviously.
As an American I didn't even know there was any woodlands left in the UK. Mostly because we have forests the size of your whole country in ours. Do they call a patch of trees woodland in the UK? If I grow 10 trees in my backyard, is it a forest now? 🤔
Yes, if they wanted to plant a tree in Scotland it would be so much easier to donate directly to the Scottish national trust or a eco friendly Scottish charity
I feel like the biggest value of getting one of their titles isn't that you can call yourself Lord or Lady on a national or international stage, but to jokingly call yourself that in your friend group 😄
@Notsy Zagts Sure, but you'd be surprised what people don't have the skills of confidence to make themselves and would prefer to buy. Just look in the average souvenier shop.
As a Sottish person, I rolled my eyes at their ad the very first time I saw it. Not only is it an obvious scam, it's not even a new scam. I first heard of someone selling this stuff, via magazine ad, back in the 80s.
@Hevach Although true, I consider it a scam. There is no real property tied to the agreement. Only agreement to transfer coat of arms, a meaningless IP. The value of IP depends on its commercial output. What established Titles, sell, are shares on a piece of land, similar to common stock of a public company. Unfortunately there is no mechanism to transfer the entitlement, in Established Titles, to other people. Understandable because it will incur more costs, when it is more worthwhile to not allow any transfer, if conservation of the land is the primary aim.
@Darky's Makeup & Science but you can buy plots of land on earth. land laws only issue land titles with a minimum size, depending on which country, but a few people can share the land by signing a contract.
It goes back to at least the late 60s. The issue came up in 1971 discussions to make sure souvenier plots would not need to go through the land registry as they could easily overburden the system.
Almost clicked off when you played the "it's called soccer" clip, but fantastic video. This kind of thing really does undermine legitimate sponsorships and I'd never thought about it in that way.
I always saw these ads and thought I would be a Lord. Happy I watched this before I went that far. Feels like a solid scam IMO even if they think they have disclaimers. Like Legal Eagle says... You cant advertise one thing and just add disclaimers that claim the opposite.
I watched one ELvidsr advertise that you can actually go to Scotland and visit the plot of land and watch them plan the tree. Total BS. Thanks for this video.
At least with the pet rock I purchased in the 70's, you got the actual rock, the packaging that doubles as it's nest and the extremely hilarious hand book for care of said rock.
Anyone remember what became a pet during or shortly when the pet rock was a fad? That would be the Pet Turd. Some guy was picking up dog turds in his backyard when he got the bright idea of pet turds. He let them dry out, put a few coats of clear coat on them, google eyes and antennas then glue them to colored construction paper. Yes, people actually bought them.
I have for a long time, looked at just about anything as a scam. Especially if it involves an aggressive marketing strategy that just pops up our if nowhere. Everything is a scam until proven otherwise
"Anything that is way too easy or too bright has got to be a game or you are being punked" I've learned from experience that exact moment when someone manipulates and lies to you, and worse when they use lingo you don't understand. Once. No more. I don't know why we can't do more research in 2022 - 35 before buying a gimmick. We have internet information and someone at the other end just like Devin will be there to disprove any claims.
Their whole "call yourself a Lord or Lady" deal is basically using the "Can I go to the bathroom? - I dunno, CAN you?" logic. _You will not become a Lord or Lady if you pay us +$50, but you CAN call yourself one. Also here's a paper in a frame that says you CAN call yourself a lord or lady. We don't know if others will agree, but between you and me- since you pay us. Sure kiddo, you're a lord or lady. :)_ Basically, you are paying for a paper in a frame. That's it. You don't own any land, you don't own any official titles, you only own that paper in a frame. They forwarded your $1 to the group that does plant trees, but the rest of your money is in their pockets now.
@Sasssky What we don't know is if they were claiming the donations where part of the their contractual obligated trees to be planted. Or just their donations as part of a company that cared for conservation. Don't get me wrong they are a scam and were using carefully chosen words to confuse and mislead their customers. They let the tubers they sponsor lie and used the cover "that they didn't stick to the guidelines they sent' for why they shouldn't be responsible for those lies. I am just saying the tree planting part of the user contract is such a small amount of profits they would be bringing in and the fact that they weren't the actual planters I don't see them leaving their butts hanging in the air.
I have to admit, my impression, even before I ever saw an Established Titles ad, was that the term "Laird" in Scotland was simply an indicator of land ownership, like "Landlord" here in the States. As such, I thought that it applied to any land owner, but thought it had nothing to do with actual nobility. Evidently I was wrong about that but, nonetheless, any person who purchased one of these and thought it made them part of Scottish nobility is an idiot. This far, I have never seen credible evidence of anyone making that mistake. It seems clear to me that all of the people shown here between25:51 and 26:37 understand perfectly well that tis is a joke. In particular, the buffoon in the Burger King crown is obviously not taking it seriously. If you know something is a joke, then you are not being scammed. If you are too stupid to tell it's a joke, that is on you, it's still not a scam.
this was one of the biggest disappointments for me. I thought it was such a fun concept and just a nice thing that existed. but noooooooooooooooooo, we can never have nice things.
I'd never trust a sponsored ad regardless of who it came from, because in the end it's still an ad. I'll do some research if I'm interested in the product or service. Regardless of who is doing it, it doesn't feel like it makes sense to trust a sponsorship only on the merit of the person's character.
@Zackary Baker Ha ha, so funny that you can put this "title" they give you on important belongings like a credit card or passport. I'm sure that won't be an issue if you try to use them afterwards.
@Daddy Senpai I've quit watching them, since they know about it, because it's all over their comment section. I'll check back later and see if it's gone.
Glad I didn't buy for me or my fiancé, I was in the very early stages of receiving from a brain injury when I heard about it and everything was saying that you would legally be come a lord or lady in Scotland, and yes I thought that it would make you legally a lord or lady and that the tree would be planted on that land but I didn't have enough money to buy the couples package so I didn't. I'm glad I watched this video and now I know the true legality of exactly why this is a cash grab scam, the advertising was as clear as mud. Thank you L.E. I would very much rather plant trees myself while I'm alive or be burried in a treepod. I would prefer to use my life to plant things and be as eco friendly as I can than ship money to a cash grab scam that isn't a non-profit organization.
If this was truly a novelty item, the advertisements would've been less confusing, and the prices would be massively dropped. I find the excuse to be less than satisfying. The site is more a legal loophole to stay face if anything like this were to happen. If they are serious about getting back in good faith with their consumers, they would revamp this entire product and even the other businesses they own. They are doing a knife scam too.
I always thought of ot was just a gag gift. But I did think they planted a tree on your 'plot' , I didn't read too closely, because I had seen the price and trying to work out if the shits n giggles ratio was equal to my dollars, and how inssuferable my husband might make the joke.
My family is aggressively proud of their Scottish Heritage, and are also easily duped by anything on the internet. My gullible father was heavily duped by a predecessor of this company, and actually gave up thousands of dollars to them, all while thinking he was "rebuilding our family legacy." These scams can actually hurt people pretty bad.
@Albinojackrussel That’s actually not true, a lot of wealthy, highly successful Scottish people came to the colonies to make even more money, many of them were tobacco shippers/importers. And many of them stayed.
Given you highlighted that many of their ads either don't mention or obfuscate the title carrying no legal weight, and likely without explicitly stating Terms and Conditions apply, they could potentially get in proverbial hot water with the UK's Advertising Standards Authority for misleading advertising...
"lady" comes from the Old English (particularly Northumberland and Mercian Old English) meaning "bread maker" or "one who kneads bread" which was commonly used to acknowledge the mistress of the house (mostly seen as a female servant rather than a spouse) and can be traced back to 1200 CE. “lord" was basically reverse engineered about 150 years later to mean "keeper of bread" or "one who guards the loaves" under the feudal system. not sure where anyone would get the idea that the period would constitute something "ancient" let alone where ancient customs came from--especially since the relationship under which the terms developed was initially a nobility-servant relationship--let alone something that started in Scotland which, it should be noted, used Gaelic at the time these two words were being hashed out in Old English.
I can’t believe that you trashed the UKs legal system 😂 it’s fabulous in comparison to yours 😂. I’m now questioning if you’re an actual lawyer because you should have knowledge and intelligence to be one.
People need to understand that not every youtuber sponsoring a product is anymore immune to scams than themselves, in either believing the lies or the temptation of greed. As always, everyone should exercise a healthy dose of skepticism, when viewing any sponsorship, or anything for that matter.
@NestedQuantifier Yes. I saw an ad, thought it was sketchy, went to google, and had my scam confirmation a minute later. It's not that hard to take responsibility.
i love how when people are scammed, and lied to, it somehow the person who was scammed and lied to's fault. like, yea, its smart to assume everyone is an asshole out to get you. but that does not mean that the people doing it are not wrong. and should be punished for doing it.
@Mega BrickI genuinely am curious, and to make it as easy as possible for you, I asked only yes or no questions. are stars in the sky and plots of land equal to you? Does the company intentionally attempt to deceive you into believing you will legally own that star? and most importantly, does owning a star make you a Starlord and legally recognized by your overlords as such?
Scam's a strong word for it. We live in a world where people will buy stars in the sky as novelty gifts; no one actually believes they own that star. It's a gimmick, a gag, not a scam. Something you can show someone and say, 'haha, look at this.' In either case, I'd rather ELvidsrs benefit from it through sponsorships over JUST the company themselves. Did you know that the classic sponsorship, Raid: Shadow Legends, apparently pays several thousands per sponsorship? It's no wonder ELvidsrs take the deal despite the game's reputation, I can't blame them for it at that point. Glad the money's going to normal people.
Well, it probably works since the English term for people leasing rooms is already landlord/landlady. It's just a term, not a title, though as far as I know. I own a house in Switzerland so I can call myself "lord" in that sense already. According to Art. 39 Abs. 2 Ziff. 3 ZGB, Art. 25 ZStV you can't officially register titles in the Swiss civil status register so you probably can't put anything on your Swiss passport, even if you are an actual Scottish Lord. But on your business card you are free (...to make yourself look like a fool... ;)
This sounds similar to the content creator putting the disclaimer “not financial advice” then go on to give financial advice. Now the SEC is going after them
I mean sure, most people who have bought one of these probably knew it was a lark, but... doesn't it only take one person who really doesn't get it for there to be a problem? There really are idiots out there.
As a real princess* I am glad I was always sus about this. I don’t trust anyone trying to sell land in any country, much less one that was colonized at any point. Issa mess *my name is legally princess and has been since birth 😂
I was pretty outraged when some of my favourite ELvidsrs started shilling this scam. Scotland has some pretty hotly contested land ownership issues and some company selling off the land for profit is pretty offensive. After inspecting the website myself as well I found no evidence of the conservation efforts being made. Are indigenous species being planted? How are they being managed? The partner company didn't have any information on this and I couldn't even find their activity in Scotland. The whole thing stinks. And yes, the irony of my last name is not lost on me. Haha.
"The Court of the Lord Lyon is a standing court of law, based in New Register House in Edinburgh, which regulates heraldry in Scotland. The Lyon Court maintains the register of grants of arms, known as the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, as well as records of genealogies." The Court of the Lord Lyon commented: “Ownership of a souvenir plot of land does not bring with it the right to any description such as ‘laird’, ‘lord’ or ‘lady’. ‘Laird’ is not a title but a description applied by those living on and around the estate, many of whom will derive their living from it, to the principal landowner of a long-named area of land. It will, therefore, be seen that it is not a description which is appropriate for the owner of a normal residential property." “It cannot properly be used to describe a person who owns a small part of a larger piece of land. The term ‘laird’ is not one recognisable by attachment to a personal name and thus there is no official recognition of ‘XY, Laird of Z’." “The words ‘lord’ and ‘lady’ apply to those on whom a peerage has been confirmed and do not relate to the ownership of land." “Ownership of a souvenir plot of land is not sufficient to bring a person otherwise ineligible within the jurisdiction of the Lord Lyon for seeking a coat of arms.” From the looks of things, the plots of land that Established Titles owns are a long term investment dedicated to remaining undeveloped(until a better scam comes along). Your little plot of land isn't registered anywhere but inside Established Titles' private files. A real right of ownership in land (in the sense of a right that is enforceable against third parties) can only be obtained by registration in the Land Register or by recording a deed in the Register of Sasines, as appropriate. The tree planting might get done, but it's primarily in African countries.
@Inconvenient Facts I can respect that point of view I just hope he is as honest as you think he is because idt he did any leg work in his research I do trust the guys that went their I've seen them time and time again protect their reputation and they went to scottland because they where advertising for them then this came out...I guess we will see
It doesn't matter if it is ELvidsrs or Twitch streamers. Most are looking for an alternative or easy source of income. Where does that income come from? Ad revenue. So it is not surprising if many are advertising or shilling for products/services. Very few channels are like Coffeezilla or LegalEagle (there are plenty of pseudo lawyers or ex-police talking nonsense on stream). Platforms do not tend to screen these channels nor do they do background checks the way employers do. If there are enough complaints sure they will investigate, but most big channels are bubbles or safe spaces anyway. In other words, watch them for entertainment but use some critical thinking and do research before believing anything that streamers sell. Otherwise, people are just asking to be scammed.
you know raid shadow legends really ran maybe one of the best online marketing campaigns ever... they made themselves into such a meme that they now are basically synonymous with youtube sponsorship
I always just considered things like this a novelty item instead of something that could be legally upheld. Like the "buy a star" and "buy property on the moon" ones too. They're just a "I don't like you enough to buy you something useful for your birthday" type of gifts.
The 'property on the Moon' thing was not initially intended as a scam: a guy realized that only _nations_ were not allowed to lay claim to the Moon, meaning that legally, individuals could. So he pronounced his claim. It was intended to be entirely serious, but unfortunately most nations don't take it seriously. I wish they did, though. It's a clever loophole.
@Katarh i used to sponsor a gorrilla at a zoo it was a fun gift for a kid and the zoo spent the money on stuff for the enclosure and food. There was even a weekend where you could go to the zoo for free on a saturday.
Ehh at 50 dollars that's not dislike it's pettiness could've gotten them a grocery gift card or gas card for less and at least it would be practical. I assume this is for people who might enjoy that kind of thing
Generally everything promoted by sponsorship or paid video on ELvids is crap. Pretty much anything I see sponsored goes on a list of things I will never buy. I have done research into several "just because" and every one has ether been a scam, selling crappy quality for premium prices, or way overpriced for the same items you can get from other places.
As an American, I saw the title as a mere meaningless tack-on to your name that carries no power or privilege whatsoever because I don't think of feudal nobility as a thing that actually exists in any meaningful way. I was under the impression that yes, you could technically claim a title but said title was functionally meaningless and would gain you nothing whatsoever beyond the mere ability to say that yes you in fact hold a useless and powerless title. To me it came across like those deals where you can buy a diploma or priesthood from some school or church that only really exists on paper. Sure, you can technically call yourself a Doctor or Reverend but it means nothing and is worth only the paper it's printed on. However, from what's being said here you don't even get the useless technicality.
I am so happy that you brought up the fact that they use "environmental conservation" as a defense when it is clear that only a small fraction of their income actually goes to it. I feel like both defenders and critics have been really bad at mentioning it, when in my eyes it is the most important point. It seems better to just give the money directly to charity and skip having trees cut down for a bogus piece of paper.
@Andrew Diaz I live in a rainforested area and a person I know worked for a tree planting organization, however what made them different from a charity was that they would plant a variety of native plants from the area into ground that was cleared for farming a long time ago and no longer used, so small sections at a time, and would maintain and monitor that area and remove pest species. The company worked with many locals and indigenous folks too who knew the land really well. If a company is mass planting trees in large swathes at a time, ask yourself why, what species, and if they will bother to actually nurture those plants as they grow. Tree planting efforts absolutely can have an impact but planting them with a blatant disregard for the land beneath them and the ecosystem around them is no better than using it for agriculture. Proper restoration of lost land is a long arduous process that involves careful study and constant maintenance.
More should be said about "planting trees" is not the only way to help environment, and if done carelessly and without planning it does more harm than good. Rows of trees of one kind, growing in a place they never intended to be, is not a way to promote your business.
Fun fact: the trees used in the paper industry come for sustainably managed forests and, thus, are sustainable. The paper industry is also working on making the mills run on more renewable/green energy to lower their carbon emissions industry wide. Some companies are further along on the green energy than others though.
I bought into this, not exactly surprised to find out it's fake. But does it make me sad? No. I never took it too seriously anyway. But I still enjoy having the "title."
Shoddy yet easy money That's all there is to it It's a snake oil sale And even a couple of my favorite creators went on their way to participate in it And it's disappointing because money is 10000 times more important now than it ever was Therefore, people are falling shorter and shorter for the sake of said money
I think it's beyond ridiculous that a million people+ wanted to be a "lOrD, or lAdy". Especially when you are living in a place where calling yourself that would look weird, and out of place.
@eekeeother lawyers like Emily D Baker already sponsored this and continue to do so. She hasn’t lost any subscribers or support. So there have been lawyers promote this.. which is kinda surprising but I guess money talks.
@Copper Fronts In this particular case, I think it's not in Legal Eagle's interest to promote a scam. Other lawyers would call him out, people would lose trust in him in general, and he'd lose a lot of his ELvids income.
A French ELvidsr bought a title from a different website, months ago. He didn't detected the fraud (tho he emitted doubt over the legitimacy of the process) but more importantly, his certificate gave the location of the tree he planted. While the website advertized a "Blackwood" land/forest in Scotland, the tree was planted... in Pakistan.
That's probably the part where they're "dedicating" the land in Scotland to you whatever that means, and the tree is being planted separately by another company. Which I guess was in Pakistan.
Did they send certificates? Apparently yes. Did they plant a tree? Apparently yes. It is a donation, and most of money goes to the organization managing the donation. JUST LIKE ALMOST EVERY OTHER CHARITY. The issue here is trusting creators to accurately represent the product. It's misrepresentation, but not a "scam". If they plant a tree, and send out certificates, overpriced or not, they met their obligation to the consumer. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but I don't see them as being particularly nefarious.
A popular youtuber just recently pulled their advert of Established Titles due to complaints that it's a scam. They claimed that they made $0 from them. Is this maybe not true? Did they likely make money?
@Jaydan Smith A DDoS attack is simply someone making a bunch of connection requests at once, but you wouldn't be getting incoming connection requests on your home router so that makes no sense. A VPN just tunnels your traffic but even then, your IP address is still visible by your ISP because your internet would not work otherwise. VPNs are only good for needing to change your location for websites that only get the proxy ip.
@Not Always they can access your router , check the model and find other vulnerabilities also they can DDoS you which is just finding where you live in whatever country ect. But any script kiddie can do that. Again no one is going to go threw that trouble unless your like a multi million dollar CEO or something
Because, under Scottish law, you do not own anything. You have no deed. Nothing. Funnily enough, despite them promising that you can sue them, should they sell the land; you can't. You own nothing.
@Leonard Greenpaw in all honesty you can pretend that you are a lord way cheaper by just buying a toysword and a toy crown. Shouldnt cost you more than 20 bucks
One of my favorite ELvidsrs advertised Established Titles, and at first, I got excited. This was the first time I'd ever heard about Established Titles, so I went to the website to see if it was actually true that I could become a landowner with a real noble title. I looked all over the website, and after possibly an hour or two of digging on both their website and on Google, I finally took my finger off of the "checkout" button, realizing that this title was possibly not officially recognized by anyone but Established Titles itself. I still didn't know if this was the case, but my doubts were enough to warn me that I probably would not be an actual landowner or noble by investing in this company. Maybe I'm just more easily misled than average, but...if I am an example of an average person clicking on Established Titles's website, then I would say that their advertising is, in fact, very misleading. All you're actually paying for is the privilege of Established Titles, a private company that owns a small chunk of Scottish land, to pretend you're a Lord or Lady - and you won't be a Lord or Lady by any other organization's standards, let alone an actual landowner. You don't own the land, and you don't get a title. The certificate you get in the mail will only be officially recognized by Established Titles, and not anyone else. The fact that I wasn't 100% certain about any of this even after reading their website several times and digging through random articles and blogs is either proof that I am more easily misled than average, or that the average person does not understand what Established Titles actually promises when they buy one of the company's products. Yes, charities sometimes do have to throw a bit of a party in order to attract anyone's attention and get donations. My personal issue with Established Titles's approach is that their party is misleading in a way that many other charities' parties are not. It's not fair that they're taking away attention from reputable charities by promising something to their customers that isn't real. Thank you so much, LegalEagle, for explaining this all in such depth!!!
Did anyone ever think Established Titles was anything more than a gag gift??? I bought a star for my wife, and some land on some other planet too, but I have never believed these were real ownership and title rights. I am a star lord and a mars lord and a Scottish lord too!!
In regards to the illegality of literally advertising one thing and putting disclaimers stating the exact opposite, my friend, family, and myself were similarly misled as well as countless other people by the southern rock Woodstock which blatantly lied about claiming to have had various southern rock giants like lynyrd skynyrd and Molly hatchet to name a few names and then immediately upon scrolling down on the website they said those bands aren't affiliated with the concert and to make a long story short: even the beer they advertised wasn't affiliated with them and this event - which was for the veterans of all things - was sponsored by a charity that not only lied to millions but is one of the lower rated veterans charities out there. Needless to say I agree with that point entirely as I've been a victim of what could actually be called false advertising
NFTs don't really make any use of the "cryptography" of blockchain either: they literally just use it as a registry. I think this makes the comparison apt. The only way this gimmick could get any more ridiculous is if they actually created NFTs for the plots, which I predict someone may already be doing somewhere else under a different scam premise.
You eluded to raid shadow legends..I spend hundreds of dollars on that game and constantly furiously enraged by the appalling price gouging and pathetic shard openings on rare, epic, void, and legendary shards but there's not another game close to its level, the in-depth strategy not only with each character but how to incorporate the synergy between teams, going into battles and bosses is top notch production of entire game .. nothing touches it, perhaps Diablo immortal which doesn't even work on android phones so I have no access to play it but there even worse on the Price gouging.. e.e. (eternal evolution) is the game people are leaving raid for but I don't care for it, its not even close to the feel and polished production of raid.. what gives and please send me links to anyone covering this
I would like your take on Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution. For example what would happen if a Postman bought a souvenir plot of land from Established Titles.
Ok I've been watchinh you for a while but I have finally decided to subscribe. The fact that you actually use your sponsors is immediately a plus. I am willing to trust you and support you in any way. Good day sir
Its target market for egotistic people who needs validation. The company basically gives them a piece of paper that gives them a title of ownership as " Lord or ladies" for a parcel of scottish land that they themselves did not actually seen or visited , while giving the seller company their cold cash.
I could technically refer to myself as a Lord, title or no title, land or no land... Free speech is pretty awesome that way. In fact, I could refer to myself as a Lady without any legal repercussions, even though I am in fact a man. Calling myself a Lord or Lady doesn't in fact make me a Lord or Lady, but it's legal for me to call myself those things. But I won't, because I don't see any need to.
The argument about “that doesn’t make any sense, by that logic, everyone in Scotland is Laird/Lady” is how I knew it was a scam years ago. It just not possible for such a title be $50 and anyone who hasn’t even took a step in Scotland could get it. I guess a lot of people don’t know how nobility works? Maybe I’m lucky because I’m an English major and had to read a lot of Shakespeare and stuff like that. I don’t know how people fell for it. I think it’s the marketing. It made this sound so easy. Plus, people probably thought “who would like about something that can be so easily factchecked?” And since it’s an obvious scam, the government would probably shut them down by now. But I guess it’s hard when it’s an international scam. Plus, it’s hard to believe someone would lie about something so easily factchecked.
It's like buying a star or land on a planet, my friend bought me "land on Uranus" cause she thought it was funny (I thought it was a funny waste of money lol, yet the thought was appreciated). In no way did I actually think I owned any part of a planet we'd never stepped foot on, as human beings. However... the information on the purchase was not nearly as misleading as this mumbojumbo. In the instance someone (like a child) actually thought it was possible, it's easily explained away just by reading a paragraph or two (if that much).
The biggest problem is they made the claim that you “legally” become a Lord. Also, all of those disclaimers came AFTER they got exposed. The “fun novelty product” part especially was explicitly added in the last week
@DS9TREK which would make them not just American then. It's also worth noting that John Paul Getty Jr renounced his U.S. citizenship upon gaining British citizenship and being knighted.
@Sean Dobbins Americans can hold substantive knighthoods if they obtain dual citizenship. John Paul Getty Jr went from honourary knight to substantive upon gaining British citizenship.
@Anak Zahard They are certainly not dumber. At best, this was going to a completely vacuous title with no real world value. At worst, it’s basically the same, only your “title” isn’t recognized by the UK. It was always going to be worthless, even if the title were “technically” true. I have no sympathy for the anyone who got duped by this. You wanted something worthless, instead you got a slightly different kind of worthless. Anyone with one iota of common sense should’ve seen what was going on.
@David Rich People who buy it because they think its a gag/joke gift are even dumber. They could literally just print the card themselves and still call themselves a lord and then donate all of the $50 to a charity instead of it going to some shady ultra rich multi-miliionaires running a scam business in HK to dodge taxes and lawsuits.
Dude this is just something to show your friends for fun, If you thought anything else then you were probably the scammer here. Imagine selling plaques saying best team ever and having it show up on youtube as a scam.
I'm going to start a business called "Established Peasants." In it I'll let anyone who bought a plot of land from Established Titles contractually bind a real Scotsman to go to that square foot of land and farm wheat on it.
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