Institutional Change and Property Rights before the Industrial Revolution: The Case of the English Court of Wards and Liveries, 1540–1660
研究了1540-1646年间英国监护法院如何管理王室对封建军事保有土地和儿童的监护权，发现监护普遍、征敛随意且沉重，降低了土地价值，为产权安全性的历史争论提供了证据。
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.