“To destroy the settlement of estate”? the Glorious Revolution and estate acts of parliament, 1660–1702

Kara Dimitruk

No 01/2019, Working Papers from Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This article sheds light on the way the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England affected property rights to land. From 1660 to 1702, the bulk of parliament’s legislative work was on estate acts that reorganized families’ rights to land use. Using a random sample of 65 estate acts, the article finds that the Revolution broadened political access to parliament. I show acts were primarily for members of parliament and their families, but new acts after 1688 had secondary connections to MPs as trustees. It also finds that the composition of the acts changed after the Revolution because landholders sought to break strict settlements, a new form of property conveyance. The findings establish the place of estate acts in the broad narrative of the Glorious Revolution and help to explain the development of capitalism in England.

Keywords: property rights; Glorious Revolution; estate acts; strict settlements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H10 K11 N43 P14 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-law
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