Law Merchant

Summary of Law Merchant

A body of customary law arising from mercantile practices and usages over centuries. Many of the practices have origins in Roman, or even pre-Roman, times. During the Middle Ages merchants, courts, or guilds employed locally recognized commercial rules to resolve disputes. Significant variations in local practice were not uncommon, but underlying principles were observed widely. The law merchant was never a uniform body of laws as such. Nevertheless, its various local forms have been embraced widely in municipal law. Today the term refers to widely accepted international commercial practices, rather than a body of laws.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)

The Legal History of Law Merchant

This section provides an overview of Law Merchant

Resources

See Also

• Legal Biography
• Legal Traditions
• Historical Laws
• History of Law

Further Reading

• Law Merchant in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History (Oxford University Press)
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History (Oxford University Press)
• Law Merchant in the Dictionary of Concepts in History, by Harry Ritter
• A Short History of Western Legal Theory, by John Kelly