Consuetudo, Vel, Lex Mercatoria: Or, The Ancient Law-Merchant. In Three Parts, According to the Essentials of Traffick.... Whereunto are Annexed the Following Tracts, viz. I. The Collection of Sea Laws. II. Advice Concerning Bills of Exchange. By John Marius. III. The Merchants Mirrour: Or, Directions for the Perfect Ordering of Keeping of His Accompts. By Way of Debtor and Creditor, After the Italian Manner. By R. Dassorne. IV. An Introduction to Merchants Accompts. By John Collins. V. The Accountants Closet, Being an Abridgement of Merchants Accounts, Kept by Debtor and Creditor. By Abraham Liset. The Third Edition, Wherein are Inserted the Three Tracts Following, Never Before Printed in Any Former Impression. I. The Jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England Asserted. By Robert Zouch. II. The Ancient Sea Laws of Oleron, Wisby, and the Hanse-Towns, Still in Force. Rendered Into English for the Use of Navigators. By G. Miege. III. The Sovereignty of the British Seas, Proved by Records, History, and the Municipal Laws of This Kingdom. By Sir John Burroughs.

Reprint of the third edition of a work first published in 1622. Also known as the law merchant, consuetudinary law or commercial law, lex mercatoria is a system of customary law that developed in Europe during the Middle Ages to regulate the dealings of mariners and merchants. Although lex mercatoria fell out of use during the seventeenth century, many of its principles were incorporated into the common law. They would later provide the foundation of the Uniform Commercial Code. Malynes' Consuetudo was the final significant contribution to this field. (Beawes' Lex Mercatoria Rediviva (1752) was an attempt to revive it.) Malynes was a commissioner of trade in the Low Countries and was frequently consulted by the Privy Council during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, a dynamic period of commercial expansion and colonization. He was one of the first writers on business practice, economic affairs and foreign exchange. These interests are explored at length in this collection, both in Malynes' treatise and the texts by Marius, Dassorne, Collins and Liset compiled in this volume. It also includes a collection of sea laws and two works on international law by Richard Zouch and John Burroughs. Both of these assert the thesis expounded by John Selden in Mare Clausum (1635). Taken together, this volume provides a broad view of lex mercatoria during its final maturity.