TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bogart,Dan
AU  - Richardson,Gary
TI  - Estate Acts, 1600 to 1830: A New Source for British History
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14393
PY  - 2008
Y2  - October 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14393
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14393.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Daniel Bogart
Department of Economics
3151 Social Science Plaza
University of Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
Tel: 949-824-3191
E-Mail: dbogart@uci.edu

Gary Richardson
Department of Economics
University of California, Irvine
3155 Social Sciences Plaza
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
Tel: 949/824-3189
Fax: 949/824-2182
E-Mail: garyr@uci.edu
AB  - 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.
ER  -