TY - JOUR
T1 - Institutional change and property rights before the Industrial Revolution
T2 - the case of the English Court of Wards and Liveries, 1540-1660
AU - Bottomley, Sean
PY - 2022/1/27
Y1 - 2022/1/27
N2 - Secure property rights are usually considered to be essential for sustained economic development; in England, it is debated whether property rights had been secure since the medieval period or if they were only established after the Glorious Revolution. In this context, the paper examines the Court of Wards, which from 1540 to 1646 administered the Crown’s right to take custody of children and their lands when these were held by feudal-military tenures. The paper shows that wardship was a common occurrence, its exactions arbitrary but often heavy, and that it reduced the value of lands held by these tenures.
AB - Secure property rights are usually considered to be essential for sustained economic development; in England, it is debated whether property rights had been secure since the medieval period or if they were only established after the Glorious Revolution. In this context, the paper examines the Court of Wards, which from 1540 to 1646 administered the Crown’s right to take custody of children and their lands when these were held by feudal-military tenures. The paper shows that wardship was a common occurrence, its exactions arbitrary but often heavy, and that it reduced the value of lands held by these tenures.
M3 - Article
JO - Journal of Economic History
JF - Journal of Economic History
SN - 0022-0507
ER -