Secure property rights are usually considered to be essential for sustained economic development. In England, it is debated whether property rights have 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.

中文翻译：

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工业革命前的制度变迁和产权：以英国 Wards and Liveries 法院为例，1540 年至 1660 年

有保障的产权通常被认为是持续经济发展的必要条件。在英国，人们争论财产权是自中世纪以来就一直是安全的，还是只是在光荣革命之后才确立的。在这种情况下，本文考察了 Wards 法院，该法院在 1540 年至 1646 年期间负责管理王室对儿童及其土地的监护权，而这些权利由封建军事保有权持有。该论文表明，监护权是一种常见现象，其征收随意但往往很重，而且它降低了这些保有权持有的土地的价值。