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Making property productive: reorganizing rights to real and equitable estates in Britain, 1660–1830

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

DAN BOGART  and
GARY RICHARDSON
DAN BOGART
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, 3151 Social Science Plaza, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-5100, dbogart@uci.edu, garyr@uci.edu
GARY RICHARDSON
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, 3151 Social Science Plaza, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-5100, dbogart@uci.edu, garyr@uci.edu
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Abstract

Between 1660 and 1830, Parliament passed thousands of Acts restructuring rights to real and equitable estates. These estate Acts enabled individuals and families to sell, mortgage, lease, exchange and improve land previously bound by inheritance rules and other legal legacies. The loosening of these legal constraints facilitated the reallocation of land and resources towards higher-value uses. Data reveal correlations between estate Acts, urbanization and economic development during the decades surrounding the Industrial Revolution.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review of Economic History , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , April 2009 , pp. 3 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © European Historical Economics Society 2009

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References

Archival sources

Database of Acts of Parliament, 1600 to 1830, collected by Dan Bogart and Gary Richardson.Google Scholar
Great Britain. House of Commons. Report of the Royal Commission on Real Property, British Parliamentary Papers, vol. x, 1829.Google Scholar
Great Britain. House of Commons. Report from the Select Committee on House of Commons Officers and Fees, British Parliamentary Papers, vol. xii, 1833.Google Scholar
Middlesex Deeds Registry, London Metropolitan Archives. Journals of the House of Commons, vol. 22, 1736.Google Scholar

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