Heritable jurisdictions were, in the law of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, grants of jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

 made to a man and his heirs.
They were a usual accompaniment to feudal tenures, and the power which they conferred on great families, being recognized as a source of danger to the state, led to frequent attempts being made by statute to restrict them, both before and after the Union. They were all abolished by Act of Parliament

Heritable Jurisdictions Act

The Heritable Jurisdictions Act, 1746 was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1746. It abolished the traditional rights of jurisdiction afforded to a Scottish clan chief...

 in 1747, following the Jacobite uprising, with compensation available upon formal application by the dispossessed.
----