奥弗顿认为议会圈地是18、19世纪英国农业革命的必要前提，从时人的遗产清单和农业部组织的以堂区(村)为单位的农业调查报告中，可以发现相关证据。比如，林肯郡的坎威克在1786年圈地后，每英亩的小麦产量从20蒲式耳提高到22蒲式耳，增长10％；大麦从20蒲式耳提高到28蒲式耳，增长40％；燕麦从27蒲式耳提高到48蒲式耳，增长78％。羊的数量也增长了33％。(111)他还针对修正派学者的观点，指出从中世纪直至18世纪中叶，英国的农业生产技术和农业劳动生产率几乎没有发生变化，仅仅在牲畜饲养方面有一定进步；敞田制严重阻碍农业创新，如新饲料作物萝卜和三叶草的引进和推广。(112)威廉森同样认为圈地是18、19世纪英国农业革命的前提条件，但留有余地。他举例说，1784年阿什利村在不改变敞田制前提下，容许农民在部分时间部分条田暂时性圈围，以保证萝卜和三叶草生长，并指出：“这样的安排远比那些同时代的改革家——他们对敞田制农业带有不可救药的偏见——让我们知道的分布的更广。”(113)16、17世纪的英国农业不是没有进步的，其中最重要的是萝卜和三叶草的种植，作为18、19世纪农业革命核心技术的“诺福克四轮制”(114)就是将它们整合到农作物轮作序列而成的。(115)我们倾向于认为威廉森的看法更为妥当。18、19世纪议会圈地带来的农业生产高效率是毋庸置疑的，正是这种高效率支撑了工业革命期间英国的人口增长和城市化；(116)16、17世纪的农业进步，包括敞田制地区的农业进步也已为英国经验主义农史学家的研究所证实。
    综上所述，敞田制并非日耳曼人农村公社土地制度的历史遗存，也不是中世纪英国农业技术进步不可逾越的障碍，事实上，它是适应9、10世纪包括英国在内的西北欧经济环境的变化产生的。通过敞田制安排，实现了农业和牧业的有机结合，满足了盎格鲁-撒克逊人对肉食和小麦面包的双重需要。敞田制同与之紧密联系的新技术如重犁、圈羊施肥、三田轮作一起，推动了英国历史上时间最长、规模最大的土地开发，并使传统农业保持了数世纪的繁荣。随着15、16世纪英国开始从农本到重商转变，农牧分离成为大势所趋，敞田制逐渐失去存在的理由。东部和东南地区不规范的敞田制最先发生变化，但米德兰及其周边规范的敞田制一直维持到18、19世纪。随着英国近代农业的发展，虽然敞田制最终退出了历史舞台，但它曾经有过的合理性仍值得充分肯定。
    注释：
    ①英国敞田分布可参见 Bruce M. S. Campbell and Ken Bartley, England on the Eve of the Black Death: An Atlas of Lay Lordship, Land and Wealth, 1300-49, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006, pp. 55-68.
    ②Joan Thirsk, "The Common Fields," Past and Present, no. 29, 1964, pp. 3-25.
    ③Henry Sumner Maine, Village-Communities in the East and West, London: John Murray, 1876, pp. 65-99.
    ④Paul Vinogradoff, Outlines of Historical Jurisprudence, vol. I, London: Oxford University Press, 1920, pp. 321-343.
    ⑤Paul Vinogradoff, Villainage in England, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968, pp. 237-238.
    ⑥Lord Ernle (Rowland E. Prothero), English Farming: Past and Present, London: Longmans, 1917, pp.247-248.
    ⑦Lord Ernle, English Farming: Past and Present, p. 149.
    ⑧西方学者关于19世纪农村公社问题的争论，可参见 Clive Dewey, "Images of the Village Community: A Study in Anglo-Indian Ideology," Modern Asian Studies, vol. 6, 1972, pp. 291-328; J. W. Burrow, "'The Village Community' and the Uses of History in Late Nineteenth-Century England," in Nell McKendrick, ed., Historical Perspectives: Studies in English Thought and Society, in Honour of J. H. Plumb, London: Europa Publications, 1974, pp. 255-284.
    ⑨Frederic William Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987, pp. 337-349.
    ⑩Joan Thirsk, "The Common Fields," pp. 3-25.
    (11)M. A. Havinden, "Agricultural Progress in Open-Field Oxfordshire," Agricultural History Review, vol. 9, 1961, pp. 73-83; E. L. Jones, "Agriculture and Economic Growth in England, 1660-1750: Agricultural Change," Journal of Economic History, vol. 25, 1965, pp. 1-18; Eric Kerridge, The Agricultural Revolution, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1967; Eric Kerridge, "The Agricultural Revolution Reconsidered," Agricultural History, vol. 43, 1969, pp. 463-476.
    (12)Donald N. McCloskey, "English Open Fields as Behavior towards Risk, " Research in Economic History, vol. 1, 1976, pp. 124-170; Donald N. McCloskey, "The Persistence of English Common Fields," in William N. Parker and Eric L. Jones, eds., European Peasants and Their Markets: Essays in Agrarian Economic History, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975, pp. 73-119.
    (13)Carl J. Dahlman, The Open Field System and Beyond, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980, pp. 141-145.
    (14)Gregory Clark, "Labour Productivity in English Agriculture, 1300-1860," in Bruce M. S. Campbell and Mark Overton, eds., Land, Labour and Livestock : Historical Studies in European Agricultural Productivity, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1991, pp. 211-235; Robert C. Alien, "The Two English Agricultural Revolutions, 1450-1850," in Bruce M. S. Campbell and Mark Overton, eds., Land, Labour and Livestock: Historical Studies in European Agricultural Productivity, pp. 236-254, quotation in p. 253.
    (15)Robert C. Allen, Enclosure and the Yeoman, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992, pp.171-187; Gregory Clark, "Commons Sense: Common Property Rights, Efficiency, and Institutional Change, " Journal of Economic History, vol. 58, 1998, pp. 73-102.
    (16)马克垚：《西欧封建经济形态研究》，北京：人民出版社，2001年，第263—270页。
    (17)舒建军：《近代早期的发展模式：英国的公田与公共权利》，赵汀阳主编：《年度学术2006：农村与城市》，北京：中国人民大学出版社，2006年，第146—198页。
    (18)文礼朋：《中世纪和近代早期英格兰敞田经营制度再认识》，《史学月刊》2006年第9期。
    (19)赵文洪：《英国公地制度中的财产权利》，侯建新主编：《经济—社会史评论》第4辑，北京：三联书店，2008年，第69—82页；赵文洪：《公地制度中财产权利的公共性》，《世界历史》2009年第2期。
    (20)赵文洪：《公地制度中的平等精神》，《史学集刊》2010年第7期；赵文洪：《欧洲公地制度的政治学遗产》，《学海》2011年第2期。
    (21)David Hall, "The Late Saxon Countryside: Villages and Their Fields, " in Della Hooke, ed., Anglo-Saxcon Settlements, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988, pp. 99-122; Della Hooke, "Early Medieval Estate and Settlement Patterns: The Documentary Evidence," in Michael Aston, David Austin and Christopher Dyer, eds., The Rural Settlements of Medieval England: Studies Dedicated to Maurice Beresford and John Hurst, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989, pp. 9-30; Carenza Lewis, Patrick Mitchell-Fox and Christopher Dyer, Village, Hamlet and Field: Changing Medieval Settlements in Central England, Macclesfield: Windgather Press, 2001, pp. 171-173.
    (22)Mark Overton, "Re-Establishing the English Agricultural Revolution," Agricultural History Review, vol. 44, 1996, pp. 1-20; Mark Overton, Agricultural Revolution in England: The Transformation of the Agrarian Economy 1500-1850, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 5-9, 164-167.
    (23)Bruce M. S. Campbell, "The Regional Uniqueness of English Field Systems? Some Evidence from Eastern Norfolk, "Agricultural History Review, vol. 29, 1981, pp. 16-28; Tom Williamson, "Understanding Enclosure," Landscapes, vol. 1, 2000, pp. 56-79; Mark Bailey, "The Form, Function and Evolution of Irregular Field Systems in Suffolk, c. 1300 to c. 1550," Agricultural History Review, vol. 57, 2009, pp. 15-36.
    (24)W. O. Ault, Open-Field Farming in Medieval England: A Study of Village ByLaws, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1972, pp. 16-17; Dorothy Whitelock, "General Introduction, " in Dorothy Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents, c. 500-1042, London: Routledge, 1996, pp. 67-68.
    (25)Tacitus, Agricola, Germany, and Dialogue on Orators, Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 2006, p. 76.
    (26)“刻尔”(ceorl)是盎格鲁-撒克逊时代的普通自由民。
    (27)"The Laws of Ine (688-694)," in Dorothy Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents, c. 500-1042, p. 403.
    (28)《英国历史文献：约500—1042年》(English Historical Documents, c. 500-1042)也如此翻译。
    (29)H. S. A. Fox, "Approaches to the Adoption of the Midland System," in Trevor Rowley, ed., The Origins of Open-Field Agriculture, London: Croom Helm, 1981, pp. 86-87.
    (30)Della Hooke, "Early Medieval Estate and Settlement Patterns: The Documentary Evidence," p. 24.
    (31)"The Laws of Ine (688-694)," p. 403.