Tarımsal Kapitalizme Geçiş Sürecinde İngiliz Çitleme Hareketi ve Toprak Mülkiyetinin Hukukî Dönüşümü

Abstract

The concept of enclosure, which has an important place in the 20th century agricultural history studies, has an increasingly important place in the discussions of primitive accumulation and the settlement of market relations. However, in the discussions on economic growth, there is not much emphasis on the relationship between land ownership and usage rights. Until the 19th century, the forms of utilization based on customary law, which were established by the rural labor with nature and land in the feudal mode of production, created an obstacle to the demands of those who wanted to use their property rights in the manor lands by completely excluding the rural population. In this context, this situation of the villagers, who benefit from small lands and natural resources with their families in rural areas, has created a preliminary problem for landowners on the way to wealth accumulation in the historical process. The starting point of the study is to examine how the actions of confiscating land and forcing rural labor to migrate in order to increase capital in the development process of English agriculture, as well as analysing how legal change accompanies this. In order to achieve this, the study examines the phenomenon of enclosure in three historical stages in English agriculture. The early period partial enclosures that lasted until 1450 were replaced by the general enclosures period with the effect of sheep breeding. After these two periods, with the 18th century, the era of enclosure decisions, which were submitted to the parliament with the complaints of the landowners in the English and Welsh countryside, where the land was divided by the commissions in the region, began. Through these decisions that continued until 1850, forests, meadows, and other common lands were shared more quickly and with legal assurance. In this context, while examining how the parliament took these decisions and the structure of the commissions, the study planned to deal with the use of the "common law" as an instrument against the customs in this process by the communities of landowners.