James Harrington and the English Agrarian Law

It is typically understood that the first explicit advocacy of agrarian laws in early modern English political thought was made by James Harrington in the 1650s. This narrative, however, has overlooked the Tudor Statutes of Tillage (originating 1489–90), which aimed at maintaining a broad distribution of landholding and were identified by both sixteenth- and seventeenth-century observers as agrarian laws. Having demonstrated this, a discourse concerning agrarian laws can be identified, which consequently contextualizes and explicates Harrington's redefinition of agrarian laws. Understanding the nature of Harrington's contribution further allows a reassessment of his immediate reception.