vention of the compass. We learn from Anderson, Vol. i. p. 58. that the city of Amalfi, so long ago as the year 1020, was so famous for its merchants and ships, that its inhabitants at that time obtained from the Caliph of Egypt a safe conduct, to enable them to trade freely in all his dominions; and they also received from him several other distinguished privileges. It was towards the close of that century, that they promulgated their system of marine law, which, from the place of its compilation, received the denomination of Tabula Amalfitana. This table superseded in a great measure the ancient Jus Rhodianum; and its authority was acknowledged by all the states of Italy, for some centuries. But as trade increased very rapidly in other cities on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, they became unwilling to receive laws from a neighbouring state, which they now equalled, if not surpassed, in the extent of their naval establishments. Every one, therefore, began to erect a tribunal, in order to decide all controverted points, according to laws peculiar to itself; but still referring, in matters of higher moment, to the former rule of action, the Amalfitan code. From such a variety of laws, as must necessarily be the consequence of each of the Italian states becoming its own legislator, so much disorder and confusion arose, that general convenience at last compelled them to do that, which jealousy of each others power and growing commerce would for ever have prevented them from effecting; and at a general assembly it was agreed to digest the laws of all the separate communities into one body. Every regulation, therefore, which was thought to be founded in justice either in the laws of Marseilles, Pisa, Genoa, Venice, or Barcelona, was collected into one mass, and published in the 14th century, under the title of Consolato del Mare. A French writer, Sur Hubner.

la

Vinnius in Peckium, 190.

la Saisie des Batimens neutres, speaks of this production in a very unfavourable way; and calls it a rude ill-formed mass of maritime and positive regulations, of ordinances of the middle ages, and of private decisions. Indeed when we consider that this was a compilation from the various regulations of so many different states, it could not excite much surprise, if it really merited the censure of this author. But upon examination it is a work of considerable merit; the decisions it contains are founded on the laws of nations; it has been received and allowed to have the force of law in every part of Italy; and it is the source from whence the people of that country, as well as those of Spain and France, have been said to derive many of their best marine regulations. UnEmerigon, fortunately too, Emerigon has discovered, that because one of the chapters in the Consolato del Mare overturns some favourite system of this learned author, he is out of humour with the whole composition. One thing, however, is clear, that neither the Consolato del Mare, nor the Amalfitan code, upon which it is founded, contains any thing upon insurance law, so that we have here another confirmation of the idea, that this contract was not a production of very ancient times. (a)

preface, p. 8.

The spirit of commerce was not, however, confined to the South parts of Europe; it now began to extend itself among the inhabitants of the Western But whatever maritime regulations they might have established among themselves, they were found not to be sufficiently extensive for the commercial intercourse which began to take place in those

coasts.

(a) In what I have said upon the Amalfitan code, I have found myself extremely indebted to Mr. Schomberg's very ingenious observations upon that subject, in his treatise on the maritime laws of Rhodes.

Observ. on

Laws.

Meadow's

Observ. on

the Dom.

of

the Sea,

4.

countries in the course of the 12th century. Accordingly, about the year 1194, Richard the First, King of England, on his return from his wild expedition to the Holy Land, having staid to repose himself for some time at the isle of Oleron, in the Bay of Biscay, an island which he inherited in right of his mother, whose portion it was in marriage with his father Henry the Second, gave orders for the compilation of a maritime code. Some authors suppose that the Schomberg's hardships and dangers, to which, in the course of his the Rhodian expedition, he saw adventurers by sea were exposed, induced him to promulgate a law, by which their condition might be rendered more comfortable. Others imagine, and probably their supposition is Sir Philip better founded, that the great intercourse between his English and French subjects, and their allies, required a certain general system of sea law, for the more speedy and impartial determination of all disputes which might occasionally arise. The laws of Oleron, therefore, which are in substance but an abstract of the old Rhodian laws, with some additions and alterations, accommodated to the practice of that age, and the customs of the Western nations, were proposed as a common standard and measure for the more equal distribution of justice among the people of different governments. These excellent regulations were so much esteemed, that they have been the model on which all modern sea laws have been founded; and two distinguished nations have contended for the honour of their production. France, jealous of the lustre which the English justly derived from the production of this code, with much anxiety claims this honour to herself; and very distinguished authors have stood forth the champions of her claim. The substance of their argument is, that Eleanor, Cleirac wife of Henry the Second, King of England, and de la Mer, Duchess P. 2. Valin.

Coutumes

Emerigon.

Valin.

Vol. i. P. 454.

Duchess of Guyenne, returning from the Holy Land, and having seen the beneficial effects of the Consolato del Mare, ordered the first draught of the judgments or laws of Oleron to be made: that her son Richard the First, returning from the same expedition, enlarged and improved what his mother had begun: that they were certainly intended for the use of the French merely, because they were written in the old Gascon French, without any mixture of the Norman or English languages: that they constantly refer for examples of voyages to Bourdeaux, St. Malo, and other sea-ports in France; never to the Thames, or to any port of England or Ireland: and that they were made by a Duchess and Duke of Guyenne, for Guyenne, and not for their kingdom of England. One of these learned writers adds a reason, which he thinks very conclusive, to prove that these laws were of French extraction; namely, that from their first appearance, their decisions have been treated with extreme respect in the courts of France.

In these days, it is very immaterial whether France or England is entitled to the honour they respectively claim, and I shall not tire the reader with any argument upon the point. (a)

Anderson in his history of commerce has expressly stated, but he does not adduce any authority in support of his opinion, that the laws of Oleron treat of insurances. I have read them repeatedly with the direct view of discovering whether insurances were of so ancient a date: but I have not found a single word

(a) For the arguments in favour of the English claim, the reader may consult Selden's Mare Clausum, lib. 2. cap. 24. Mr. Justice Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. i. page 418. Schomberg's Observations, page 88.

P. II.

which could induce me to subscribe to such an assertion. In confirmation of my opinion, Emerigon, Preface, speaking of these laws, has observed, " "Il n'y est pas "dit le mot du contrat d'Assurance, qui apparemment "n'etoit pas encore alors en usage."

et Coutumes

Pref.

But while we pay due respect, and veneration to those maritime regulations, which distinguished the Southern and Western parts of Europe, it would be improper silently to pass over the laws, which were ordained by an industrious and respectable body of people, who inhabited the city of Wisbuy, famous for Cleirac Us its commerce, and renowned on the shores of the de la Mer. Baltic. The merchants of this city carried on so ex-pre Emerigon, tensive a trade, and gave themselves up so entirely to commerce, that they must doubtless have found a great inconvenience in having no maritime code, to which they could refer to decide their disputes. To such a cause we are probably indebted for those laws and marine ordinances, which bear the name of Wisbuy, which were received by the Swedes, at the time they were composed, as a just and equitable rule of action, and which were long respected (and for aught I know, are to this day observed) by the Germans, Swedes, Danes, and by all the Northern nations; although the city in which they received their origin, has long dwindled into insignificancy and contempt. At what time these laws were compiled is a matter of dispute; and different writers have adopted different periods, in order to answer their own particular ends, or to advance the honour of that age which it happened to be their business to extol. The writers of the North pretend that Wisbuy was a great commercial city, in the 9th century; from whence they argue, that their laws must be of very high antiquity; that they were the model, from which those

of