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Parliamentary Enclosure And The Emergence Of An English Agricultural Proletariat

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  • Shaw-Taylor, Leigh

Abstract

It has often been argued that parliamentary enclosure decisively increased the wage dependence of English agricultural laborers, primarily by extinguishing their rights to keep cows on common land. Yet the extent to which laborers had in fact enjoyed common pasture rights has never been demonstrated. This article fills that gap, by documenting the extent of laborers' common rights for ten settlements in the south and east Midlands. It finds that most laborers in these villages did not have common rights prior to enclosure and cannot, therefore, have been proletarianized by their loss.

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  • Shaw-Taylor, Leigh, 2001. "Parliamentary Enclosure And The Emergence Of An English Agricultural Proletariat," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(3), pages 640-662, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:61:y:2001:i:03:p:640-662_03
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    Cited by:

    1. Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Markus Lampe & Pablo Martinelli Lasheras & Paul Sharp, 2020. "Winners and Losers from Enclosure: Evidence from Danish Land Inequality 1682-1895," Working Papers 0178, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    2. Toke Aidt & Gabriel Leon & Max Satchell, 2017. "The Social Dynamics of Collective Action: Evidence from the Captain Swing Riots, 1830-31," CESifo Working Paper Series 6773, CESifo.
    3. Bas Bavel & Auke Rijpma, 2016. "How important were formalized charity and social spending before the rise of the welfare state? A long-run analysis of selected western European cases, 1400–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(1), pages 159-187, February.
    4. Blakeslee, David & Chaurey, Ritam & Fishman, Ram & Malik, Samreen, 2018. "Structural Transformation and Spillovers from Industrial Areas," IZA Discussion Papers 11886, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Elaine Tan, 2002. "Bull is Half the Herd: Property Rights and Enclosures in England, 1750-1850," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _046, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Tan, Elaine S., 2002. "'The bull is half the herd': property rights and enclosures in England, 1750-1850," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 470-489, October.
    7. Francisco J. Beltran Tapia & Julio Martinez-Galarrage, 2015. "Inequality and poverty in a developing economy: Evidence from regional data (Spain, 1860-1930)," Working Papers 0078, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. Ian Gazeley & Sara Horrell, 2013. "Nutrition in the English agricultural labourer's household over the course of the long nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(3), pages 757-784, August.
    9. Kumon, Yuzuru, 2021. "The Deep Roots of Inequality," IAST Working Papers 21-125, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).
    10. Tine De Moor, 2009. "Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(1), pages 1-22, February.
    11. Kumon, Yuzuru, 2021. "Wealth Inequality in Pre-industrial Rural England," IAST Working Papers 21-124, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).
    12. Andre Groeger & Yanos Zylberberg, 2024. "The Pick of the Crop: Agricultural Practices and Clustered Networks in Village Economies," Working Papers 1426, Barcelona School of Economics.
    13. José Miguel Lana Berasain, 2006. "Commons For Sale. Economic And Institutional Change In Nineteenth Century Northern Spain," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 0604, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    14. Ogilvie, Sheilagh & Carus, A.W., 2014. "Institutions and Economic Growth in Historical Perspective," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 403-513, Elsevier.
    15. Runge, C. Ford & Defrancesco, Edi, 2006. "Exclusion, Inclusion, and Enclosure: Historical Commons and Modern Intellectual Property," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1713-1727, October.

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