Jaco Zuijderduijn
Senior lecturer
Grave concerns : Entailment and intergenerational agency in Amsterdam (1600-1800).
Author
Summary, in English
The entail was one of the few instruments that allowed pre-industrial testators to organize long-term strategies with respect to asset management: it allowed them to decide which goods descendants could alienate, and also after how many generations restrictions would be lifted. This article looks into the somewhat neglected topic of entailment in merchant towns, and thus contributes to our understanding of the goals urban testators set with respect to asset management, both for themselves and their descendants. Evidence from Amsterdam suggests that many testators were inclied to create long-term strategies once improvements had been made to the institutional framework surrounding the entail. Our analysis indicates that they were particularly looking for ways to prevent descendants from squandering patrimonial goods, but without reducing liquidity. This 'intergenerational agency problem' was solved by allowing groups of descendants to file requests to have entails cancelled.
Publishing year
2011-10-24
Language
English
Pages
343-353
Publication/Series
The History of the Family
Volume
16
Issue
4
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Economic History
Keywords
- agency
- entails
- family
- fideicommissum
- lineage
- pre-industrial
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1081-602X