Law and Commerce in Pre-Industrial Societies

350 Pages·2015·1.683 MB·English

by  Barry Hawk

Law and Commerce in Pre-Industrial Societies
<UN>
<UN>
Law and Commerce in
Pre-Industrial Societies
By
Barry Hawk
LEIDEN | BOSTON
<UN>
Cover illustration: Wikimedia Commons.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hawk, Barry E., author.
Law and commerce in pre-industrial societies / By Barry Hawk.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-30623-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Commercial law--History. 2. Commerce--History.
3. Law and economic development--History. I. Title.
K1006.H39 2015
346.0709--dc23
2015031120
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface.
isbn 978-90-04-30623-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-30622-6 (e-book)
Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and
Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa.
Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
<UN>
To Nan and Evan
∵
<UN>

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
1 Commerce, Law and Evidence 1
1 Evidence of Commerce and Law 8
2 Commerce, Merchants and Homo Economicus 14
1 Ubiquity of Commerce and Trade 14
1.1 Hunters, Gatherers and Pre-Literate Farmers 14
1.2 Mesopotamia (3000–1600 BC) 26
1.3 Ancient Egypt (3000–1069 BC) 46
1.4 Classical Athens (480–330 BC) 63
1.5 Roman Republic and Empire (100 BC–200 AD) 68
1.6 Early Islamic World (750–1100 AD) 75
1.7 European Commercial Revolution (1000–1500 AD) 83
1.8 Medieval Southern India (850–1500 AD) 87
1.9 Early Qing China (1644–1800 AD) 97
2 Primacy of Commerce and Trade 109
3 Homo Economicus and Economic Analysis 115
3 Security of Persons and Property 118
1 Security in Local Markets 119
1.1 General Security Institutions 119
1.2 Local Security for Resident or Itinerant Foreign Merchants 122
2 Security in Long-Distance Trade (In Transit Security) 126
2.1 F ictional Blood Brother/Kin Relationships and Neutral
Intermediaries 126
2.2 Silent Trade 126
2.3 Amân (Safe Passage) 128
2.4 Merchant Networks and Private Armies (Private Ordering) 128
2.5 Treaties and Commercial Agreements 129
2.6 Public Order 130
3 Security from State Invasions of Property 131
4 Concluding Remarks and Questions 133
4 Dispute Resolution 134
1 Introduction and General Legal Systems 135
1.1 Hunter/Gatherers and pre-Literate Farmers – Rules, Enforcement
and Sanctions Whether “Law” or “Social Norms” 135
<UN>
viii Contents
1.2 Mesopotamia – Innovative Law and Expansive Commerce and
Trade 138
1.3 Egypt – Law in a Politically Centralized and Economically
Dominant State 139
1.4 Athens – Law in a Radical Democracy 141
1.5 Rome – Law Supporting Commerce in an Empire 141
1.6 Early Islamic World – Law Based on Religious Community 144
1.7 Medieval Europe – Commercial and Legal Revolutions 147
1.8 Medieval Southern India – Law Based on Caste or Occupation 148
1.9 Qing China – Imperial Administrative Law and Private Contract
Rules 151
2 Dispute Avoidance Institutions 152
3 Mediation and Arbitration 154
3.1 Public Mediation and Arbitration 155
3.2 Private Mediation and Arbitration 157
4 Dispute Resolution by Local Notables and Consuls  160
5 Dispute Resolution by Popular Assemblies and Executive Bodies 160
6 Courts 163
6.1 Independence and Appellate Review 163
6.2 Political Structure and Courts 167
6.3 Community-Based Legal Systems (Islamic and
Hindu Law) 169
6.4 Demands for Speedy, Impartial and Experienced
Dispute Resolution 173
7 Informal Dispute Resolution 179
8 Remedies and Community Responsibility 186
9 Substantive Rules, Legal Recognition of Business Innovations and
Law(s) Merchant 189
9.1 Substantive Legal Rules 189
9.2 Legal Recognition of Business, Commercial and Financial
Innovations 194
9.3 Uniform Substantive Rules and “Law(s) Merchant” – The Loch
Ness of Legal History 199
5 Business Organizations: Families, Partnerships and Companies 206
1 Business Composition 207
1.1 Personal Relationships and Family Business 207
1.2 Family Networks 214
1.3 Multigenerational Business 215
1.4 Family versus the Individual 218
<UN>
Contents ix
2 Business Organizations 220
2.1 M odern Forms of Business Organization and Corporate Law
Default Rules 220
2.2 Partnerships for Single Projects 222
2.3 B usiness Organizations to Pool Capital and Share Risk beyond
Single Projects 228
2.4 Forms of Organization to Partition Assets 250
3 Accounting, Credit and Financial Institutions 257
4 Conclusions 261
6 Consumer Protection, Competition, Fair Prices and Agency/Information
Institutions 263
1 Fair Dealing and Consumer Protection 264
1.1 Ubiquity of Local Markets 264
1.2 Fair Dealing and Consumer Protection 265
2 Grain Trade: Regulation and Competition Laws 270
2.1 Critical Importance of Grain 270
2.2 Competition Laws 275
3 “Unfair Prices” 281
4 Institutions to Meet Agency Concerns 283
5 Institutions to Provide Market Information 287
Bibliography 291
Index 327
<UN>