The implementation of national labour legislation in England after the Black Death, 1349-1400
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3479790 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mark Bailey (0000-0002-8957-2405, School of History University of East Anglia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 529-552 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Economic History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0117 • E-ISSN: 1468-0289 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ehr.13355 |
| OpenAlex | W4398778617 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 36 |
The responses of labour markets to global pandemics are attracting renewed interest, although the English labour laws in response to the Black Death of 1348/9 - capping wages, imposing annual contracts, and restricting mobility - have a long and established scholarship. The conventional wisdom is that the legislation represented an extension of existing local practices and created common cause among all categories of employer. Yet this view is hard to reconcile with the fact that, despite subsequent revisions, the legislation soon failed. These arguments are tested through original research into how the legislation was actually enforced in a variety of legal tribunals (manorial, borough, and royal). A clear distinction is maintained between public presentments and private litigation, and a robust methodology is pursued to record their absence as well as quantifying their presence. This casts new light on the novelty of the labour laws, the reasons for their failure, and their influence on contract law. The analysis exemplifies the potential for short-term legal responses to infectious diseases to have unintended and unanticipated long-term consequences
Economics · Legislation · Political science · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law · Public Administration
After the Black Death
The Origin of Capitalism in England, 1400–1600
Manor Court Procedures, Debt Litigation Levels, and Rural Credit Provision in England, c.1290—c.1380
The Invisible Hand
Conflict and Revolt
The Social Context of Statute of Labourers Enforcement
The regulation of the rural market in waged labour in fourteenth-century England
Behind the Ordinance of Labourers
The Evolution of Manor Courts in Medieval England, c. 1250–1350
Open-Field Husbandry and the Village Community
Edward III and the Recovery of Royal Authority in England, 1340–60
Essays in Economic History
After the Black Death
Medieval Labor Law and English Local Courts
The Invention of Free Labor
Local Markets and Regional Trade in Medieval Exeter
Plague and Lethal Epidemics in the Pre-Industrial World
Compulsory Service in Late Medieval England
A Rural Society after the Black Death
Out of the West
England in the Aftermath of the Black Death
The Enforcement of the Statutes of Labourers During the First Decade After the Black Death, 1349-1359
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |