Making Property Productive: Reorganizing Rights to Real and Equitable Estates in Britain, 1660 to 1830

Dan Bogart, Gary Richardson

NBER Working Paper No. 14107
Issued in June 2008
NBER Program(s):   DAE   LE   POL

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 reveals correlations between estate acts, urbanization, and economic development during the decades surrounding the Industrial Revolution.

(249 K)

Published: Bogart, Dan & Richardson, Gary, 2009. "Making property productive: reorganizing rights to real and equitable estates in Britain, 1660?1830," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(01), pages 3-30, April.

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Acknowledgments

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