A new database demonstrates that between 1600 and 1830, Parliament passed thousands of acts restructuring rights to real and equitable estates. These estate acts enabled individuals and families to sell, mortgage, lease, exchange, and improve land previously bound by landholding and inheritance...

A significant number of gender scholars focus on the substantive effects of women's representation. A good portion of this literature focuses on whether female legislators behave in ways that foster women's representation. We argue one area that needs more research is to understand the...