Abstract

The lex mercatoria developed as merchant-made, private law. Unlike other bodies of law, the lex mercatoria was not born of statutory or "natural" law but from practical, day-to-day commercial usage. In fact, medieval commercial activities propagated the "most favorable trading practices and customs of the various foreign markets within which [merchants] did business." What evolved in the Middle Ages out of necessity stands today as a sometimes controversial testimony to the power of self-regulation through a specialized and practical body of law: the ...