Ancient Maritime Loan Contracts
How contracts reveal the link between commerce and law in maritime societies
Description
Ancient Maritime Loan Contracts studies the first millennium of the standard form contracts at the heart of ancient long-distance trade, from the fifth century BCE to Justinian. Maritime loan contracts recorded the terms of agreement on which a creditor lent a sum of money to a merchant or carrier to finance the purchase of a cargo for a trading expedition overseas. They were the lifeblood of the long-distance trade in bulk commodities that flourished in the Mediterranean and Black Seas and were also among the first private agreements to be fully committed to writing. From at least the fifth century BCE, these contracts were highly standardized in their terms, containing boilerplate clauses in a tried-and-tested construction. Maritime loan contracts continued to be used to finance maritime trade until the late Middle Ages, when they were only finally superseded by the contract of marine insurance.
Combining a wide variety of papyrological, epigraphic, and legal evidence, Peter Candy’s framework illustrates the significance of these contracts in both their economic and legal context. By using an interdisciplinary approach, Ancient Maritime Loan Contracts addresses important questions about how maritime trade was financed in the context of the ancient economy; the response of individual legal cultures to maritime loan contracts; and the relationship between international commercial practice and legal development in the ancient world.
Peter Candy is Assistant Professor in Civil Law at the University of Cambridge and Fellow in Law at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
Reviews
“This book makes an original and important contribution to the field. It will be of interest primarily to legal and economic scholars of Greco-Roman antiquity but should gain a wider readership in classics, ancient history, legal history, and economic history as well.”
- David Phillips, University of California, Los Angeles
"Throughout antiquity maritime loans underpinned trading overseas and the development of ancient economies. This rewarding study examines the risks which traders and lenders faced, how they allocated them in their contracts, and the issues that arose when their disputes had to be resolved in court. The author takes full account not just of the law but also of surviving documentary evidence and evidence from shipwrecks. This is a rich, full picture of a vital legal institution at work, and it enhances our understanding of ancient law in its economic context."
- David Johnston, University of Edinburgh
“It is a great advantage of this book that it treats the testimonies from the Greek and Roman world as parts of a cross-border landscape, contract terms, financing practices, and insurance models were shared among merchants and shipmen all over the Mediterranean world. Candy offers an innovative and intelligent treatment of the topic.”
- Eva Jakab, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary