Consuetudo, Vel, Lex Mercatoria: Or, the Ancient Law-Merchant. in Three Parts, According to the Essentials of Traffick.... Whereunto Are Annexed the ... Concerning Bills of Exchange... 2 vols.

Fascinating 1686 collection of merchant and maritime laws. Originally published: London: Printed for T. Basset, R. Chiswell, T. Horne, and E. Smith, 1686. 2 volumes, containing nine works with separate paginations and title pages; first work preceded by general title page. Various paginations: 446, 662 pp. Reprint of the third edition of a work first published in 1622. Also known as the law merchant, consuetudinary law or commercial law, lex mercatoria is a system of customary law that developed in Europe during the Middle Ages to regulate the dealings of mariners and merchants. Although lex mercatoria fell out of use during the seventeenth century, many of its principles were incorporated into the common law. They would later provide the foundation of the Uniform Commercial Code. Malynes' Consuetudo was the final significant contribution to this field. (Beawes' Lex Mercatoria Rediviva (1752) was an attempt to revive it.) Gerard Malynes was a commissioner of trade in the Low Countries and was frequently consulted by the Privy Council during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, a dynamic period of commercial expansion and colonization. He was one of the first writers on business practice, economic affairs and foreign exchange. These interests are explored at length in this collection, both in Malynes' treatise and the texts by Marius, Dassorne, Collins and Liset compiled in this volume. It also includes a collection of sea laws and two works on international law by Richard Zouch and John Burroughs. Both of these assert the thesis expounded by John Selden in Mare Clausum (1635). Taken together, this volume provides a broad view of lex mercatoria during its final maturity.