Full Description
Late medieval Bruges was a commercial hub that connected Hanseatic, English, Scottish, Portuguese, Spanish, Aragonese, and Italian traders. This book focuses on the conflict resolution of the aldermen and how merchants operated within this legal framework. The key question being whether Bruges was a city of justice. Although this was sometimes claimed by travellers, a lot of merchants confronted with the practicalities of conflict resolution in Bruges, disagreed.
Fieremans analyses how customary law, institutional frameworks, and commerce intersected and were challenged by the aldermen's pursuit of justice. By clarifying the working of the aldermen, it advances our knowledge of the basic mechanisms of a late medieval law court and the evolution of the law courts of late medieval Flanders.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the book focuses on the interplay between commerce and justice, explores the diverse merchant communities, and considers the potential lessons it offers for understanding both historical and modern markets. It sheds light on the pragmatic legal culture of Bruges and the legal mechanisms that partially regulate commerce.
Contents
Introduction: Historiography and Contribution
Part I. Law. The legal framework of late medieval Bruges
The procedures of the aldermen
The usage of procedures
The goal of these procedures
Part 2. Leverage. The group strategies to adapt the framework
The strategy of economic leverage: the Hanseatic, English and Scottish community
The strategy of political leverage: the Iberian communities
Strategies without privileges: the Italian communities
Part 3. Litigation. The individual strategies adapting the framework
The Council of Flanders and Bruges.
Supralocal courts. The Great Council and the Parliament of Paris
The end of Bruges legal dominance
Conclusion
