diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -305,6 +305,7 @@
 	uint256.cpp
 	util/bytevectorhash.cpp
 	util/moneystr.cpp
+	util/settings.cpp
 	util/strencodings.cpp
 	util/system.cpp
 	util/threadnames.cpp
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@
   util/macros.h \
   util/moneystr.h \
   util/system.h \
+  util/settings.h \
   util/threadnames.h \
   util/time.h \
   validation.h \
@@ -519,6 +520,7 @@
   uint256.h \
   util/system.cpp \
   util/moneystr.cpp \
+  util/settings.cpp \
   util/strencodings.cpp \
   util/threadnames.cpp \
   util/time.cpp \
diff --git a/src/util/settings.h b/src/util/settings.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/settings.h
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2019 The Bitcoin Core developers
+// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+#ifndef BITCOIN_UTIL_SETTINGS_H
+#define BITCOIN_UTIL_SETTINGS_H
+
+#include <map>
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+class UniValue;
+
+namespace util {
+
+//! Settings value type (string/integer/boolean/null variant).
+//!
+//! @note UniValue is used here for convenience and because it can be easily
+//!       serialized in a readable format. But any other variant type that can
+//!       be assigned strings, int64_t, and bool values and has get_str(),
+//!       get_int64(), get_bool(), isNum(), isBool(), isFalse(), isTrue() and
+//!       isNull() methods can be substituted if there's a need to move away
+//!       from UniValue. (An implementation with boost::variant was posted at
+//!       https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/15934/files#r337691812)
+using SettingsValue = UniValue;
+
+//! Stored bitcoin settings. This struct combines settings from the command line
+//! and a read-only configuration file.
+struct Settings {
+    //! Map of setting name to forced setting value.
+    std::map<std::string, SettingsValue> forced_settings;
+    //! Map of setting name to list of command line values.
+    std::map<std::string, std::vector<SettingsValue>> command_line_options;
+    //! Map of config section name and setting name to list of config file
+    //! values.
+    std::map<std::string, std::map<std::string, std::vector<SettingsValue>>>
+        ro_config;
+};
+
+//! Get settings value from combined sources: forced settings, command line
+//! arguments and the read-only config file.
+//!
+//! @param ignore_default_section_config - ignore values in the default section
+//!                                        of the config file (part before any
+//!                                        [section] keywords)
+//! @param get_chain_name - enable special backwards compatible behavior
+//!                         for GetChainName
+SettingsValue GetSetting(const Settings &settings, const std::string &section,
+                         const std::string &name,
+                         bool ignore_default_section_config,
+                         bool get_chain_name);
+
+//! Get combined setting value similar to GetSetting(), except if setting was
+//! specified multiple times, return a list of all the values specified.
+std::vector<SettingsValue> GetSettingsList(const Settings &settings,
+                                           const std::string &section,
+                                           const std::string &name,
+                                           bool ignore_default_section_config);
+
+//! Return true if a setting is set in the default config file section, and not
+//! overridden by a higher priority command-line or network section value.
+//!
+//! This is used to provide user warnings about values that might be getting
+//! ignored unintentionally.
+bool OnlyHasDefaultSectionSetting(const Settings &settings,
+                                  const std::string &section,
+                                  const std::string &name);
+
+//! Accessor for list of settings that skips negated values when iterated over.
+//! The last boolean `false` value in the list and all earlier values are
+//! considered negated.
+struct SettingsSpan {
+    explicit SettingsSpan() = default;
+    explicit SettingsSpan(const SettingsValue &value) noexcept
+        : SettingsSpan(&value, 1) {}
+    explicit SettingsSpan(const SettingsValue *dataIn, size_t sizeIn) noexcept
+        : data(dataIn), size(sizeIn) {}
+    explicit SettingsSpan(const std::vector<SettingsValue> &vec) noexcept;
+    const SettingsValue *begin() const; //<! Pointer to first non-negated value.
+    const SettingsValue *end() const;   //<! Pointer to end of values.
+    bool empty() const;        //<! True if there are any non-negated values.
+    bool last_negated() const; //<! True if the last value is negated.
+    size_t negated() const;    //<! Number of negated values.
+
+    const SettingsValue *data = nullptr;
+    size_t size = 0;
+};
+
+//! Map lookup helper.
+template <typename Map, typename Key>
+auto FindKey(Map &&map, Key &&key) -> decltype(&map.at(key)) {
+    auto it = map.find(key);
+    return it == map.end() ? nullptr : &it->second;
+}
+
+} // namespace util
+
+#endif // BITCOIN_UTIL_SETTINGS_H
diff --git a/src/util/settings.cpp b/src/util/settings.cpp
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/settings.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2019 The Bitcoin Core developers
+// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+#include <util/settings.h>
+
+#include <univalue.h>
+
+namespace util {
+namespace {
+
+    enum class Source {
+        FORCED,
+        COMMAND_LINE,
+        CONFIG_FILE_NETWORK_SECTION,
+        CONFIG_FILE_DEFAULT_SECTION
+    };
+
+    //! Merge settings from multiple sources in precedence order:
+    //! Forced config > command line > config file network-specific section >
+    //! config file default section
+    //!
+    //! This function is provided with a callback function fn that contains
+    //! specific logic for how to merge the sources.
+    template <typename Fn>
+    static void MergeSettings(const Settings &settings,
+                              const std::string &section,
+                              const std::string &name, Fn &&fn) {
+        // Merge in the forced settings
+        if (auto *value = FindKey(settings.forced_settings, name)) {
+            fn(SettingsSpan(*value), Source::FORCED);
+        }
+        // Merge in the command-line options
+        if (auto *values = FindKey(settings.command_line_options, name)) {
+            fn(SettingsSpan(*values), Source::COMMAND_LINE);
+        }
+        // Merge in the network-specific section of the config file
+        if (!section.empty()) {
+            if (auto *map = FindKey(settings.ro_config, section)) {
+                if (auto *values = FindKey(*map, name)) {
+                    fn(SettingsSpan(*values),
+                       Source::CONFIG_FILE_NETWORK_SECTION);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        // Merge in the default section of the config file
+        if (auto *map = FindKey(settings.ro_config, "")) {
+            if (auto *values = FindKey(*map, name)) {
+                fn(SettingsSpan(*values), Source::CONFIG_FILE_DEFAULT_SECTION);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+} // namespace
+
+SettingsValue GetSetting(const Settings &settings, const std::string &section,
+                         const std::string &name,
+                         bool ignore_default_section_config,
+                         bool get_chain_name) {
+    SettingsValue result;
+    MergeSettings(
+        settings, section, name, [&](SettingsSpan span, Source source) {
+            // Weird behavior preserved for backwards compatibility: Apply
+            // negated setting even if non-negated setting would be ignored. A
+            // negated value in the default section is applied to network
+            // specific options, even though normal non-negated values there
+            // would be ignored.
+            const bool never_ignore_negated_setting = span.last_negated();
+
+            // Weird behavior preserved for backwards compatibility: Take first
+            // assigned value instead of last. In general, later settings take
+            // precedence over early settings, but for backwards compatibility
+            // in the config file the precedence is reversed for all settings
+            // except chain name settings.
+            const bool reverse_precedence =
+                (source == Source::CONFIG_FILE_NETWORK_SECTION ||
+                 source == Source::CONFIG_FILE_DEFAULT_SECTION) &&
+                !get_chain_name;
+
+            // Weird behavior preserved for backwards compatibility: Negated
+            // -regtest and -testnet arguments which you would expect to
+            // override values set in the configuration file are currently
+            // accepted but silently ignored. It would be better to apply these
+            // just like other negated values, or at least warn they are
+            // ignored.
+            const bool skip_negated_command_line = get_chain_name;
+
+            // Ignore settings in default config section if requested.
+            if (ignore_default_section_config &&
+                source == Source::CONFIG_FILE_DEFAULT_SECTION &&
+                !never_ignore_negated_setting) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Skip negated command line settings.
+            if (skip_negated_command_line && span.last_negated()) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Stick with highest priority value, keeping result if already set.
+            if (!result.isNull()) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            if (!span.empty()) {
+                result = reverse_precedence ? span.begin()[0] : span.end()[-1];
+            } else if (span.last_negated()) {
+                result = false;
+            }
+        });
+    return result;
+}
+
+std::vector<SettingsValue> GetSettingsList(const Settings &settings,
+                                           const std::string &section,
+                                           const std::string &name,
+                                           bool ignore_default_section_config) {
+    std::vector<SettingsValue> result;
+    bool result_complete = false;
+    bool prev_negated_empty = false;
+    MergeSettings(
+        settings, section, name, [&](SettingsSpan span, Source source) {
+            // Weird behavior preserved for backwards compatibility: Apply
+            // config file settings even if negated on command line. Negating a
+            // setting on command line will ignore earlier settings on the
+            // command line and ignore settings in the config file, unless the
+            // negated command line value is followed by non-negated value, in
+            // which case config file settings will be brought back from the
+            // dead (but earlier command line settings will still be ignored).
+            const bool add_zombie_config_values =
+                (source == Source::CONFIG_FILE_NETWORK_SECTION ||
+                 source == Source::CONFIG_FILE_DEFAULT_SECTION) &&
+                !prev_negated_empty;
+
+            // Ignore settings in default config section if requested.
+            if (ignore_default_section_config &&
+                source == Source::CONFIG_FILE_DEFAULT_SECTION) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // Add new settings to the result if isn't already complete, or if
+            // the values are zombies.
+            if (!result_complete || add_zombie_config_values) {
+                for (const auto &value : span) {
+                    if (value.isArray()) {
+                        result.insert(result.end(), value.getValues().begin(),
+                                      value.getValues().end());
+                    } else {
+                        result.push_back(value);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
+            // If a setting was negated, or if a setting was forced, set
+            // result_complete to true to ignore any later lower priority
+            // settings.
+            result_complete |= span.negated() > 0 || source == Source::FORCED;
+
+            // Update the negated and empty state used for the zombie values
+            // check.
+            prev_negated_empty |= span.last_negated() && result.empty();
+        });
+    return result;
+}
+
+bool OnlyHasDefaultSectionSetting(const Settings &settings,
+                                  const std::string &section,
+                                  const std::string &name) {
+    bool has_default_section_setting = false;
+    bool has_other_setting = false;
+    MergeSettings(
+        settings, section, name, [&](SettingsSpan span, Source source) {
+            if (span.empty()) {
+                return;
+            } else if (source == Source::CONFIG_FILE_DEFAULT_SECTION) {
+                has_default_section_setting = true;
+            } else {
+                has_other_setting = true;
+            }
+        });
+    // If a value is set in the default section and not explicitly overwritten
+    // by the user on the command line or in a different section, then we want
+    // to enable warnings about the value being ignored.
+    return has_default_section_setting && !has_other_setting;
+}
+
+SettingsSpan::SettingsSpan(const std::vector<SettingsValue> &vec) noexcept
+    : SettingsSpan(vec.data(), vec.size()) {}
+const SettingsValue *SettingsSpan::begin() const {
+    return data + negated();
+}
+const SettingsValue *SettingsSpan::end() const {
+    return data + size;
+}
+bool SettingsSpan::empty() const {
+    return size == 0 || last_negated();
+}
+bool SettingsSpan::last_negated() const {
+    return size > 0 && data[size - 1].isFalse();
+}
+size_t SettingsSpan::negated() const {
+    for (size_t i = size; i > 0; --i) {
+        if (data[i - 1].isFalse()) {
+            // Return number of negated values (position of last false value)
+            return i;
+        }
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
+} // namespace util