Unit 3. The birth of commercial law

Up until the mid-14th century, Europe had experienced steadily increasing urbanisation

• True

• False

The late Middle Ages saw the development of large urban centres run by merchants in

• North sea coast, Flemish cities, Northern Italy and France

• Eastern Europe, Flemish cities, Southern Italy and Germany

• North sea coast, Flemish cities, Southern Italy and France

• Eastern Europe, Flemish cities, Northern Italy and Germany

They are a political phenomenon characteristic of the north of the Italian peninsula (10th-15th centuries): cities, with a small territory but great political and financial power, were the main political entities during the Middle Ages

• Guilds

• Faire of Champagne

• Italian city-states

• Hansa

The Italian city-states were NOT tipically:

• Rural urban migration

• Construction of cathedrals

• Large cities

• Weak demographic increase

• Enormous development of trade

From the 9th to the 12th centuries, _____ developed into a powerful maritime empire (an Italian thalassocracy known also as repubblica marinara). It was the richest and most powerful city-state

Venetian trade policy was based on the protection and promotion of trade by the state

• True

• False

Source of law: these are unwritten legal rules but are observed because it has become customary over time to comply with them

Rules created by the repeated, uniform and constant observance of the traders of a given place in their business and which are binding on them

• Customs

• Proof of usage

• Type of uses

• Trade usages

The oldest compilations of medieval trade usages are maritime law texts and are associated with the statutes of cities, such as:

• Venetian laws

• Costums de la terra

• Costums de la mar

• Perfectum usus of Pisa

The medieval compilations are the result of law produced directly by the State:

• True

• False