The Federation of Scottish Landlords had said it would mount a legal challenge to the proposals, which include giving the government powers to purchase mismanaged estates.

Local communities will have more opportunity to buy their land

The move - designed to curb abuses by absentee landlords - is just one of a series of new proposals designed to strengthen the land rights of Highland communities.

Announcing the initiative, Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar said: "This is not a raid on land-owners."

Other measures set out by Mr Dewar will allow tenants to apply for lottery cash to buy an estate if it comes on the market.

A "responsible right to roam" in the countryside, and the abolition of the last traces of the 900-year old feudal system are also among government proposals.

Mr Dewar also said all crofting communities will have the right "to acquire their land at any time".

The Scottish secretary hopes the reforms will be among the first issues to be tackled by the Scottish Parliament when it meets this summer, after elections in May.

Dewar: The proposals are "not anti-landlord"

Speaking on BBC News, Andrew Dingwall-Fordyce, a spokesman for the Scottish Landowner's federation, said: "The government has made it absolutely plain that good landowners have nothing to fear and I totally accept that.

"If there really are as many problems as they say there are let's hear more about them."

Increased community involvement was, he said, "very good and very positive".

But, he added: "I'm nervous about community buying because it means tax payers' money in whatever form, whether its from the lottery or be it from grant aid or whatever.

"I'm not sure that it is a good idea to use tax payers' money to purchase land when there is no saying that the land is a viable proposition in its own right."

The Scottish National Party attacked the government's plans for not being tough enough.

Land spokesman Fergus Ewing said the reforms had to be "sufficiently strong and democratic to deter bad landlords such as Mr Maruma from buying estates such as Eigg in the first place, rather than merely trying to pick up the pieces once the damage has been done".

The SNP prefers a system of Locality Land Councils to help communities set local land use priorities and allow them to intervene in cases of abuse.