cantile lawyer can tell in an instant what the word Currency means, and what it includes; whereas, those who have occupied themselves with discussions on it, know absolutely nothing of Mercantile Law, and have exactly as much chance of settling the meaning of Currency, as they have of Differentiating an Equation. We have already given a short account of its true meaning, but we must now investigate the question completely 2. Our Saxon ancestors utterly discountenanced and prohibited the sale or exchange of any goods, merchandise, or cattle by private sale or bargain. It was a matter of fixed policy with them that no sales should take place except in the presence of witnesses. A series of kings made laws to this effect, and as these laws are to this very hour in spirit the Common Law of England, and are very little known, we may give a little space to quote them textually, as constitutional curiosities. Thus, among the Dooms, or Laws, which Hlothære and Eadric, kings of the Kentish men, about 683 A.D., established is thist" 16. That if any Kentishman buy a chattel in Lundenwic (London), let him then have two or three true men to witness, or the king's wic-reeve. If it be afterwards claimed of the man of Kent, let him then vouch the man who sold it to warranty, in the wic at the King's Hall, if he know him, and can bring him to warranty; if he cannot do that, let him prove at the altar, with one of his witnesses, or with the king's wic-reeve, that he bought the chattel openly in the wic, with his own property, and then let him be paid its worth; but if he cannot prove that by lawful averment, let him give it up; and let the owner take possession of it " Among the Dooms of Ine, King of Wessex (688-725 a.D.), is this" 25. If a chapman traffic up among the people, let him do it before witnesses. If stolen property be attached with a chapman, and he have not bought it before good witnesses, let him prove, according to the wite, that he was neither privy nor thief, or pay as wite thirty-six shillings. * Vol. 1., p. 49 † Ancient Laws and Institutes of England; printed by command of William IV., p. 14. We quote the official translation of the Anglo-Saxon + Ibid., p. 51 Among the Dooms of Edward the Elder, son of Alfred (901-924 A.D.), is this*-"1. And I will that every man have his warrantor, and that no man buy out of port, but have the portreeve's witness, or that of other unlying men whom one may believe. And if any one buy out of port let him incur the king's ofer hyrnes" (ie., contempt, or hearing and refusing to obey, which incurred a penalty of 120s.) Among the Dooms of Ethelstan (925-960 A.D.) is this"10. And let no man exchange any property without the witness of the reeve, or of the mass-priest, or of the landlord, or of the hordere, or of other unlying man. If any one so do, let him give thirty shillings, and let the landlord take possession of the exchange" Among the Dooms of Edgar (959-975 A.D.) are these "4. To every burh let there be chosen thirty-three as witnesses "5. To small burhs, and in every hundred, twelve; unless ye desire more "6. And let every man, with their witness, buy and sell every of the chattels that he may buy and sell, either in a burh, or in a wapentake; and let every of them when he is first chosen as witness, give the oath that he never, neither for money nor for love, nor for fear, will deny any of those things of which he was witness, nor declare any other thing in witness, save that alone which he saw or heard; and of such sworn men, let there be at every bargain two or three as witnesses" Among the Dooms of Ethelred (979-1016 A.D.) is this§"3. And let no man buy or exchange unless he have burh and witness; but if any so do, let the landlord take possession of, and hold the property, till that it be known who rightfully owns it" Among the Dooms of Cnut the Great (1017-1035 A.D.) is this 24. And let no one buy anything above the value of four pence, either living or lying, unless he have the true witness of four men, be it within a burh, be it up in the country. For if * Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, p. 68. †That is Market Overt; in Roman Law, Portus est conclusus locus quo importantur merces et inde exportantur. Est et statio conclusa et munita. Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, p. 87. § Ibid., p. 120. VOL. II. Ibid., p. 167. it then be attached, and he have no such witness, let there be no vouching to warranty; but let his own be rendered to the proprietor; and the aftergild and the wite to him who is entitled thereto " Among the Laws of Edward the Confessor (1043-1066 A.D.) is this*" 38. Defensum erat eciam in lege, ne aliquis emat vivum animal vel pannum usatum sine plegiis et bonis testibus Et si venditor non potest habere plegios, retineatur cum pecunia donec veniat dominus ejus, aut quilibet alius, qui juste possit eum warantizare. Quod si aliter aliquis emerit, quod stulte emit perdat et forisfacturam " William the Conqueror (1066-1087 A.D.) continued this lawf― "45. Nemo emat vel vivum vel mortuum ad valenciam IIII. denariorum sine IIII. testibus, aut de burgo aut de villa campestri. Quod si aliquis rem postmodum calumpniatus fuerit, et nec testes habuerit nec warantum, et rem reddat et forisfacturam, cui de jure competit " Also in a Charter granted by him he says "10. Interdicimus eciam ut nulla viva pecunia vendatur aut ematur nisi intra civitates et hoc ante tres fideles testes; nec aliquam rem vetitam, sine fidejussore et waranto. Quod si aliter fecerit, solvat, et persolvat, et postea forisfacturam "11. Item nullum mercatum vel forum sit, nec fieri permittatur, nisi in civitatibus regni nostri, et in burgis [clausis] et muro villatis, et in castellis, et in locis tutissimis, ubi consuetudines regni nostri, et jus nostrum commune, et dignitates corone nostre, que constitute sunt a bonis predecessoribus nostris deperire non possint, nec defraudari nec violari, sed omnia rite, et in aperto, et per judicium et justiciam fieri debeant " And so also the Mirrour of Justice says, p. 14-"It was ordained that fairs and markets should be in places, and that the buyers of corn and cattle should pay toll to the lords' bailiff of markets or fairs; that is to say, a false penny of six shillings of good, and of good, less and of more, more; so that no toll exceed a penny for one manner of merchandise: and this toll was given to testify the contracts, for that every private contract was forbidden" *Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, p. 191. † Ibid., p. 209. 3. How long these Dooms continued in force we cannot say : Mr. Justice Stephen says* that they lasted till the time of Bracton: and they are in spirit the foundation of the Common Law at the present hour. It is the established principle of Common Law that if any person steals or finds any chattel belonging to any one else, and sells it privately to a third person, the true owner may reclaim it from that third person, even though he bought it honestly, and gave full value, and had no suspicion that the seller had no title to sell it. For the law holds in general that no one can sell what he does not possess himself; and it does not allow that the true owner has lost the property in the chattel or goods, by having accidentally mislaid them, or having them stolen from him If, however, the thief or finder manages to sell the goods in market overt, then the buyer is by common law entitled to retain them against the true owner However, by Statute 24 & 25 Vict. (1861), c. 99, § 100, it is now enacted that if the loser prosecutes the thief to conviction, then the court may grant a writ of summary restitution to the true owner of the property, in whose ever hands it may be, even though he may have bought it honestly, and given full value for it In the City of London every day except Sunday is, by ancient custom, market day; and every shop is market overt for the goods which are usually sold there, but for no others. It was held by all the judgest-"that if plate be stolen, and sold openly in a scrivener's shop on the market day (as every day is a market day in London except Sunday), that this sale should not change the property; but the party should have restitution; for a scrivener's shop is not a market overt for plate, for none would search there for such a thing; et sic de similibus, &c. But if the sale had been openly in a goldsmith's shop in London, so that any one who stood or passed by the shop might see it, then it would change the property. But if the sale be in the shop of a goldsmith, either behind a hanging, or behind a cupboard upon which his plate stands, so that one stood or passed by the shop could not see it, it would not change the property; or if the sale be not in the shop, but in the warehouse, or other place of the house, it would *History of the Criminal Law, Vol. III., p. 129. The case of Market Overt, 5 Co: 83 b., Hil., 38 Eliz. not change the property, for that is not in market overt, and none would search there for his goods. So every shop in London is market overt for such things only which by the trade of the owner are put there to sale" But in country towns only those days are market days which are appointed by law or ancient custom; and those places only are market overt for any goods, merchandise, or cattle, which are expressly appointed for the sale of such articles. And, consequently, all sales of any articles made in any other than such places are void against the true owner, if the articles be not the property of the seller. The same rule also holds good with regard to pledging stolen goods with a pawnbroker, or other person. We might, if necessary, illustrate these doctrines by several recent cases but that would occupy too much space in such a work as this 4. Such is the law with regard to all kinds of goods, merchandise, and cattle. But with regard to Money the case was always different. If a person stole or found money belonging to any one else, the true owner could compel him to give it up, if he could prove the fact, and identify the money. But if the finder or thief paid away the money in the ordinary course of business; as if, for instance, a shopkeeper sold goods to the thief, and took the money in the ordinary course of his business, without knowing that it was stolen, then he could retain the money against the true owner, even though he could identify it. That is to say, the property in the money passed along with the honest possession of it in every sale or exchange. And from this peculiarity money was said to be Current, i.e., that the property in it passed by delivery. And this was necessary by the very nature of commerce, because no transactions could take place if the seller was bound in every sale to inquire into the right of the buyer to the money. And from this exceptional property of money, the expression arose of the Currency of money, but no one for a very long time ever thought of such a barbarism as to call the money itself Currency But when in the course of time Bills of Exchange, and other securities for money, came into use, it was adopted as a custom or usage by the Law Merchant, that the same rule should apply to them as applied to money; that is to say, that the property in |