Enclosure was no longer deterred especially after
abolition of the Star Chamber. The legal device of "strict
settlement" evolved to prevent heirs from breaking up estates
enabled families to concentrate land and capital into large units.
The oldest son inherited the land and the younger sons now
received money. Clover seed was sold in London by 1650. It
revolutionized the cultivation of barren land. England began to
export instead of import grain. But vagrancy increased from people
dispossessed of land. And the village artisan, when deprived of
his field and of this rights of common, could not continue to work
at home, but had to accept the wages offered to him in an
employer's workshop.
Employers and entrepreneurs were now free from control by the
Crown. There were no more attempts to supervise quality of
manufactures or to fix prices or regulate wages. There was greater
freedom established in relations between employers and workers.
The government no longer tried to compel employers to keep
employees in times of economic slump. The requirement of seven
year apprenticeships and being the son of a freeholder to be an
apprentice were not enforced.
The economy was still volatile due ostensibly to variable
harvests, amount of gold and money in circulation, and balances of
trade, and to periods of plague. Wages rose steadily. The rise in
prices ended about 1650, and prices remained stable until about
1775.
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