diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index ee48fcfa4b..10b4ac7016 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 4.1-beta2
+ * Move Schema.FORCE_LOAD_KEYSPACES and Schema.FORCE_LOAD_KEYSPACES_PROP to CassandraRelevantProps (CASSANDRA-17783)
  * Add --resolve-ip option to nodetool gossipinfo (CASSANDRA-17934)
  * Allow pre-V5 global limit on bytes in flight to revert to zero asynchronously in RateLimitingTest (CASSANDRA-17927)
 Merged from 4.0:
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/CassandraRelevantProperties.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/CassandraRelevantProperties.java
index 188a8aa68d..2a62aa5759 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/CassandraRelevantProperties.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/CassandraRelevantProperties.java
@@ -295,9 +295,12 @@ public enum CassandraRelevantProperties
     ORG_APACHE_CASSANDRA_CONF_CASSANDRA_RELEVANT_PROPERTIES_TEST("org.apache.cassandra.conf.CassandraRelevantPropertiesTest"),
     ORG_APACHE_CASSANDRA_DB_VIRTUAL_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_TABLE_TEST("org.apache.cassandra.db.virtual.SystemPropertiesTableTest"),
 
+    /** Used when running in Client mode and the system and schema keyspaces need to be initialized outside of their normal initialization path **/
+    FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES("cassandra.schema.force_load_local_keyspaces"),
     ;
 
 
+
     CassandraRelevantProperties(String key, String defaultVal)
     {
         this.key = key;
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java
index 40abe2c36d..6d5456124f 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/CQLSSTableWriter.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
 
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.CassandraRelevantProperties;
 import org.apache.cassandra.config.DatabaseDescriptor;
 import org.apache.cassandra.cql3.statements.schema.CreateTableStatement;
 import org.apache.cassandra.cql3.statements.schema.CreateTypeStatement;
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@ public class CQLSSTableWriter implements Closeable
 
     static
     {
-        System.setProperty("cassandra.schema.force_load_local_keyspaces", "true");
+        CassandraRelevantProperties.FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES.setBoolean(true);
         DatabaseDescriptor.clientInitialization(false);
         // Partitioner is not set in client mode.
         if (DatabaseDescriptor.getPartitioner() == null)
@@ -554,7 +555,8 @@ public class CQLSSTableWriter implements Closeable
                 throw new IllegalStateException("No modification (INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE) statement specified, you should provide a modification statement through using()");
 
             Preconditions.checkState(Sets.difference(SchemaConstants.LOCAL_SYSTEM_KEYSPACE_NAMES, Schema.instance.getKeyspaces()).isEmpty(),
-                                     "Local keyspaces were not loaded. If this is running as a client, please make sure to add %s=true system property.", Schema.FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES_PROP);
+                                     "Local keyspaces were not loaded. If this is running as a client, please make sure to add %s=true system property.",
+                                     CassandraRelevantProperties.FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES.getKey());
             synchronized (CQLSSTableWriter.class)
             {
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/Schema.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/Schema.java
index 9869be4abf..dee24c18cf 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/Schema.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/schema/Schema.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.MapDifference;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.ObjectUtils;
 
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.CassandraRelevantProperties;
 import org.apache.cassandra.cql3.functions.*;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.*;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.marshal.AbstractType;
@@ -74,9 +75,6 @@ public class Schema implements SchemaProvider
 {
     private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Schema.class);
 
-    public static final String FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES_PROP = "cassandra.schema.force_load_local_keyspaces";
-    private static final boolean FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES = Boolean.getBoolean(FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES_PROP);
-
     public static final Schema instance = new Schema();
 
     private volatile Keyspaces distributedKeyspaces = Keyspaces.none();
@@ -108,7 +106,7 @@ public class Schema implements SchemaProvider
     private Schema()
     {
         this.online = isDaemonInitialized();
-        this.localKeyspaces = (FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES || isDaemonInitialized() || isToolInitialized())
+        this.localKeyspaces = (CassandraRelevantProperties.FORCE_LOAD_LOCAL_KEYSPACES.getBoolean() || isDaemonInitialized() || isToolInitialized())
                               ? Keyspaces.of(SchemaKeyspace.metadata(), SystemKeyspace.metadata())
                               : Keyspaces.none();