Estate Acts, 1600 to 1830: A New Source for British History / Dan Bogart, Gary Richardson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bogart, Dan.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Richardson, Gary.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w14393.

NBER working paper series no. w14393

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Estate Acts, 1600 to 1830

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.

Summary:

A new database demonstrates that between 1600 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 landholding and inheritance laws. This essay provides a factual foundation for research on this important topic: the law and economics of property rights during the period preceding the Industrial Revolution. Tables present time-series, cross-sectional, and panel data that should serve as a foundation for empirical analysis. Preliminary analysis indicates ways in which this new evidence may shape our understanding of British economic and social history.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2008.