Marriage Settlements, 1601-1740: The Adoption of the Strict Settlement

155 Pages·1983·1.37 MB·English

by  Lloyd Bonfield

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES
IN ENGLISH LEGAL HISTORY
Edited by
D. E. C. YALE
Fellow of Christ's College
and Reader in English Legal History at the University of Cambridge

MARRIAGE
SETTLEMENTS,
1601-1740
THE ADOPTION OF THE STRICT SETTLEMENT
LLOYD BONFIELD
Research Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE
LONDON NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE
MELBOURNE SYDNEY
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 1983
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1983
This digitally printed version 2008
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 82-19828
ISBN 978-0-521-25021-4 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-09126-8 paperback
To my parents

CONTENTS
List of tables page v111
Preface 1x
List of abbreviations x1
Introduction x111
The medieval inheritance and the Statute of Uses 1
2 Law in transition: the conflict over restraints upon
alienation 11
3 Patterns of marriage settlement 1601-1659: the de-
velopment of the 'life estate-entail' mode 46
4 The emergence of the strict settlement 55
5 The adoption of the strict settlement 1660-1740: Kent
and Northamptonshire 82
6 Marriage settlements in perspective: the social and
economic aspects 93
Conclusion 121
Bibliography 123
Index 135
Vil
TABLES
1 Sixteenth-century settlement practice page 9
2 Frequency distribution of the employment of the strict
settlement 86
3 Frequency of distribution of the employment of the
strict settlement by social classification 1660-1740 88
4 Frequency distribution of the employment of the strict
settlement by the 'lesser gentry' settling at least a
manor 89
5 Frequency distribution of the employment of the strict
settlement by counties: the 'lesser gentry' 91
Vilt
PREFACE
Doctoral theses often have curious origins. The one which has been
revised and is presented here had its genesis in a seminar on the
'Problems of the aristocracy in France and England in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries' in the University of Iowa
when Professors Henry Horwitz and Ralph Giesey found that they
had a law student amongst their aspiring historians. It became my
task to explain the workings of the strict settlement to my
colleagues, and to compare the English system of inheritance with
the French. I have lived with this curious device ever since.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge gratefully the kindness which
scholars have shown me. Foremost, I should like to thank Professor
Sir John Habakkuk who graciously entertained me at the Lodge in
Jesus College, Oxford, and unearthed boxes of notes which em­
bodied the research of his seminal works on landownership and
marriage settlements. Although I may at times call into question
some of his conclusions, all legal and economic historians are
indebted to him for his pioneering work on these topics. Mr David
Yale supervised the thesis and edited the text for the Cambridge
Studies in English Legal History. For his tireless labours, and his
friendship, I warmly thank him. Professor Donald Coleman and
various members of the Cambridge Group for the History of
Population and Social Structure, in particular Dr Peter Laslett,
helped me to see the economic and social dimensions of the study.
My examiners, Professor Brian Simpson and Dr Christopher Clay,
made useful suggestions in the way of revision, as did Dr John
Baker who read the entire text with the care and incisiveness that all
who know his own work would expect. Professors Richard Helm­
holz, S. F. C. Milsom and Russell Osgood and Dr Brian
Outhwaite read and criticized individual chapters. Any remaining
errors are, of course, my own responsibility.
I should like to acknowledge others who supported this project in
various ways. Without the financial assistance of the United States -
IX
x PREFACE
United Kingdom Educational Association, which brought me to
Cambridge as a Fulbright Scholar, and the Master and Fellows of
Trinity College, who bestowed upon me the leisure of a research
fellowship, this work would have been neither undertaken nor
completed. The staff at the County Archives in Kent, Northamp­
tonshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire graciously met my
requests for unreasonably large numbers of family muniments. Dr
John Dawson of the Literary and Linguistics Computing Centre
saved me countless tedious days of hand sorting the substance of the
settlements by developing a method of doing it all by computer.
Mrs Mary Pomery cheerfully typed numerous drafts from illegible
manuscripts and Ms Susan Green typed the final draft. Finally, I
am indebted to my wife, Adriana, for reasons which all who know
her will undoubtedly understand.
Cambridge LLOYD BONFIELD
March, 1982