Strict land grants with the early modern English aristocracy

Author: Chen Zhijian (Professor, School of History, Capital Normal University)

In the 60s of the 20th century, Lawrence Stone, a researcher of British family history in the early modern period, pointed out in his book "The Crisis of the Nobility" that the British aristocracy generally experienced an unprecedented crisis from the mid-16th century to the mid-17th century, which was mainly manifested in three manifestations: First, the inflation brought about by the price revolution caused the income of the large aristocracy with fixed land rent as the main source of living sharply decreased, and they often borrowed money or even sold land to maintain their original way of life. Thus objectively creating an astonishing land flow; Second, the Testamentary Act of 1540 greatly weakened the principle of primogeniture, giving landowners almost the power to dispose of their property at will. They allowed the female heir to divide the family property when there were no male heirs, granted the widow a large amount of property as her widow's property, and provided a large annuity and dowry for the other children, thus resulting in the division of the family property; Third, in the price revolution, the squire class that had accumulated a lot of wealth through direct management of real estate through commercialization sprang up, not only receiving land flowing from the great aristocracy, but also greatly encroaching on the social influence of the great aristocracy. However, by the mid-to-late 17th century, the English aristocracy made a series of adjustments in an attempt to stem the exodus of family property and maintain its political dominance. Stone was vague about the specific adjustment strategy of the great aristocracy, and did not delve into it except for a general reference to the rise of family property contracts and the reduction of interest rates. This paper argues that in early modern Britain, land was the source of social influence, and the strict land grant widely practiced by the great aristocracy for family property should be a key part of their adjustment strategy.

Strict land grant and its materiality

Strict land grant is a type of family property deed, designed by common law lawyer Sir Orlando Bridgman in the mid-17th century, the core of which is that the landlord turns the eldest son into a lifelong estate holder who can only enjoy the proceeds of the estate by transferring the family property to the trustee named in the deed, while instructing the trustee to use the proceeds of the family property to support other family members. During the English Civil War, strict land grants were widely used, because both sides of the civil war feared that their property would be confiscated if they failed, and the role of "tenure holder" in strict land grants could save family property from significant losses. At the end of the 17th century, strict land grants became more and more mature, and gradually became a common means for large aristocratic families to allocate their family property, because it was often implemented when the eldest son was married, so it was also called marriage land grant.

Strict land grant belongs to the private archives of the aristocracy, and its materials, systems, seals, tax stamps, endorsements and other elements all show a vivid materiality: these contracts are mostly written on leather paper in iron salt ink in the popular secret style of early modern times, some important words and sentences are written in Gothic font, and the language is early modern English, depending on the number of matters handled, the number of leather paper used ranges from one to dozens of sheets; There is a vermilion double-line border around the perimeter of the leather paper, and the wavy cut on the top of the leather paper indicates that they belong to the contract between the parties, and each party holds a copy after the completion of the writing; In the upper left corner of the contract is a copperplate printed header, which is generally decorated with intricate flora and fauna and curved patterns around the header, among which the king's head or royal coat of arms sometimes appears; Above the folded edge at the bottom of the deed, there is usually a series of incisions longitudinally, in which a strip of fine cloth is applied, on which the fire paint seals of the parties and all trustees are applied, and the corresponding handwritten signatures are applied on both sides of the seal. From the enactment of the Licensing Act of 1694, England began to impose stamp duty on contractual instruments, ranging from an initial few pennies to a few shillings. The tax stamp is usually a double-layer structure composed of blue mask paper and tin foil, and the tax collector usually cuts two cuts on the left edge of the leather paper, and uses a small strip of tin foil to fix the tax stamp on the deed, and then applies a steel seal as a whole to form a relief indentation pattern, and finally affixes a label with the royal logo on the back of the deed to cover the nodules at the end of the tin foil strip. In addition, the back of the deed also contains information such as the notary's summary, tax summary, loan principal receipt, interest payment record, etc.

Allocation of property in strict land grants

Strict land grants generally explain the basic information such as the time, parties, trustees, and real estate involved in the deed at the beginning, and trace the history of the real estate in a large number of pages, until the words "witnesses to the present deed" appear in Gothic font, and the description of the new deed officially begins. Strict land grants generally consist of three basic steps:

First, appoint a trustee and transfer some or all of the family property to their possession. A trustee is usually a group of friends, relatives, and lawyers from both parties. Once the transfer of the family property is completed, the trustee becomes the owner in the legal sense, and although the landlord no longer occupies the family property, he can still provide relevant guidance, instructions, directives and restrictions on the allocation of the family property and the heirs, all of which will be specified in the strict land grant. In this sense, the trustee plays a very important role as the custodian, manager and supervisor in the implementation of strict land grants.

Second, solve the problem of family inheritance. Restrictions on the order, scope and rights of heirs are also important elements of strict land grants. In practice, the eldest son who is about to marry is generally set as a lifelong estate holder, and after inheriting the family property, they can enjoy the family property income for life, but do not have the right to allocate the family property. In addition, they will lose the right to transfer the family property, which cannot be rented for more than one lifetime, and the mortgage cannot exceed the prescribed amount. At the same time, the subsequent inheritance method of the family property will be set to male heirs only, and the order and scope of family property inheritance are as follows: the eldest son of the eldest son is determined as the future heir; If the eldest son of the eldest son has no male heirs, the order of family property is inherited by the other sons of the eldest son; If the other sons of the eldest son have no male heirs, the inheritance of the family property reverts to the landlord who has implemented strict land grants, and in turn seeks heirs among other sons and more distant collateral males. It can be seen that in the process of strict land grant to determine the future heirs of family property, the preference of eldest sons and male priority is its distinctive feature.

Third, providing financial support for the remaining children and female family members is also an important aspect of strict land grantmaking. This section is generally placed near the beginning of the strict land grant deed and is marked by the words "acquire and hold" in Gothic script, meaning that the trustee acquires and holds part of the family property from the landlord to raise large sums of money to support the remaining children and female members of the family. Among these supports, pocket money is given to the wife of the eldest son to meet her daily expenses during the marriage. In addition, it can also raise a dowry for the daughter of the eldest son.

Strict land grant and integrity of noble property

Strict land grants, although deeds of succession, played a key role in protecting the integrity of the British aristocracy in the early modern period. First of all, by transferring the family property to the trustee, strict land grant downgraded the eldest son to a lifelong real estate holder, which not only prevented the eldest son from selling the family property and preventing the land from flowing out of the family, but also curbed the impulsive luxury consumption of the eldest son to a large extent, thus effectively protecting the integrity of the family property. Secondly, strict land grants try to make relatively long-term arrangements in terms of family property inheritance, not only setting a series of future heirs in advance, but also reviving the principle of primogeniture and male priority, thus largely avoiding the risk of family property division. Third, strict land grants replace widows' property gains with pocket money and shared annuities, which reduces the risk of depleting family property gains. Finally, in strict land grants, the landlord also transfers part of the family property to the trustee, which is used to raise the lump sum payment for the remaining son and the dowry of the daughter. Because interest rates have remained around 5% (or even lower) for a long time since the mid-17th century, trustees can often easily raise long-term, low-interest loans in the mortgage market, and the eldest son can pay the inheritance share of the other children in one lump sum without having to sell land, borrow or lower his own standard of living. In turn, this form of payment is also advantageous for other children, which can largely help other children to establish their own doors and reserve a reserve force for the inheritance of large aristocratic family property.

In the eyes of the British jurist Lord Frederick Pollock, strict land grants have a "strange and exquisite structure", but the author does not agree with his view, because the trustee, lifelong estate tenure, male heirs, residual inheritance and other elements in strict land grants have all appeared in the history of British family property inheritance, and the great nobles simply combined these elements in response to the actual crisis they faced, and took the fiduciary duties a small step forward- Supervising the allocation of family property by tenured estate owners and protecting the rights and interests of uncertain remaining heirs is essentially a "simple and small" contract, and it is precisely this "small contract" that effectively protects the integrity of the British aristocracy in the early modern period.

Guang Ming Daily (December 19, 2022, version 14)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily