Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/305

 9, HOLDSWORTH: THE LAW MERCHANT 291 from older collections of the customs of seaport towns within the kingdom of Aragon,^ just as the Black Book was drawn up from the laws of Oleron for the use of the court of Ad- miralty in England. Before they had thus been reduced to writing they had been introduced into the Mediterranean ports, as the laws of Oleron had been introduced into the ports of the Atlantic and the North Sea. " They were introduced from Barcelona first of all into Valencia, then into the island of Majorca, then into Sicily, then into Roussillon, all of which countries were under the sceptre of the kings of Aragon before any version of them was printed at Barce- lona. Within half a century after they were printed in the Book of the Consulate of the Sea at Barcelona, they were translated into the languages of Castile and of Italy. They were further translated into French before the conclusion of the 16th century, into Latin some time in the 17th century, into Dutch at the beginning of the 18th century, and into German in the course of the same century." ^ From the Baltic we have two codes of sea laws. One comes from Lubeck ; * another from Wisby. * While Lubeclc exercised a preponderating influence upon trade within the Baltic, Wisby exercised a similar influence upon the trade of the Baltic with foreign ports. The famous collection of the maritime laws of Wisby are compiled from three sources. The first is a Baltic source, and the earliest laws to be attributed to that source come from Lubeck. The second is a Flemish source and represents a Flemish version of the laws of Oleron. The third is a Dutch source, and represents the laws observed in the city of Amsterdam.^ Other towns possessed bodies of sea laws of their own. We possess the laws of Amalphi ^ and of Trani. It is clear from "^ the Domesday of Ipswich that that town possessed a court in which pleas relating to maritime matters were pleaded from tide to tide. ® But these three codes — the laws of Oleron, • Black Book of the Admiralty iii xxxy. • Ibid iii Ixxiii. •Ibid iv xxiii. • Ibid iv xxi, xxii. • Ibid iv xxvii, seqq. • Ibid ii 23. * Ibid iv xv, xvi. • Ibid iv vii-xr.