Lex Mercatoria Rediviva, Or, The Merchant's Directory, Being a...
"An Authority in Mercantile Customs": Kent Beawes, Wyndham [fl. 1775]. Lex Mercatoria Rediviva: Or, The Merchant's Directory. Being a Complete Guide to All Men in Business, Whether as Traders, Remitters, Owners, Freighters, Captains, Insurers, Brokers, Factors, Supercargoes, Agents. Containing an Account of Our Trading Companies and Colonies, With Their Establishments, And an Abstract of Their Charters; The Duty of Consuls, And the Laws Subsisting About Aliens, Naturalization and Denization. To Which Is Added a State of the Present General Traffick of the Whole World; Describing the Manufactures and Products of Each Particular Nation: And Tables of the Correspondence and Agreement of the European Coins, Weights, And Measures, With the Addition of All Others that are Known. Extracted from the Works of the Best Writers Both at Home and Abroad; More Especially from Those Justly Celebrated ones of Messieurs Savary; Improved and Corrected by the Author's Own Observations, During His Long Continuance in Trade. The Whole Calculated for the Use and Service of the Merchant, Lawyer, Senator, And Gentleman. With Large Additions. London: Printed for R. Baldwin, 1761. [ii], vii, [3], 898, [20] pp. Folio (14-3/4" x 9-1/2"). Recent period-style quarter calf over marbled boards, raised bands, blind and gilt ornaments, lettering piece and gilt publication date to spine, endpapers renewed. Moderate toning to interior, light foxing in a few places, mostly to margins, negligible faint dampstaining to lower margins of final ten leaves, light soiling, light foxing and early owner signature (Thomas Hargreaves) to title page. A handsome copy. $550. * Second edition. Beawes was a merchant and his book was intended to be "a guide to all men in business." Nonetheless the Lex Mercatoria was often cited in court, and its authority formed the basis of several decisions. First published in 1751, it was especially influential in the United States, where, according to Kent, it was "an authority in mercantile customs." Kent, Commentaries on American Law III:126. English Short-Title Catalogue T136427.
Price: $550.00
Book number 74242