Late Medieval Study On The Distribution Of Family Property In Early Modern England

Family is the basic unit and cell of society. Marriage is a bond used to maintain a family and also a window through which people have a look at society. Marriage and thought and deeds concerning it expose some intrinsic features of a society as well as the extent to which the civilization of a society develops. Marriage, an indispensable section of social relations, reflects to a deep degree politics, economy, laws and customs of a given society. The study of this thesis is based on the visual angle of family property allocation, explores the interrelationship between the development of the means of family property allocation and the social changes combine with the British social and historical background of the late Middle Ages and early modern times. The appear of the new means of family property allocation in transition period, including the change of form and means of payment of daughter's dowry, the establishment of women's "separate estate", the development of Dower, and the widely use of the testament right, all this marked brand of the times. The new change of means of family property allocation also can response the social development, embody the process of establishing clear property right institution, demonstrated the capitalist class equality and the idea of advocates free individual will. This thesis is aimed to deepen the understanding of the transition period of British society through the changes of means of family property allocation.