Treatises

With his ius mercatorum constructing doctrine, Stracca opened a path that has been enhanced and developed not only through the rulings of the Genoese Rota (one of the most important mercantile judicial courts of the modern age), but also through the contributions of other authors. In particular, some jurists after him devoted themselves to the study of insurance contracts and exchange contracts.

Benvenuto Stracca. De mercatura. Francofurti, 1622, Detail of the title page

The insurance contract is one of the many typical institutions of commercial law, derived from mercantile practice and created as a custom of maritime law for the need to insure cargo and ships. After some initial hesitation, since it was considered dangerous due to its connection with risk, this contract, widespread in practice, was recognized as lawful.

Jacques Savary. Le parfait négociant. Paris, 1749-1753, detail of the titlepage.

The exchange contract was not a simple and unambiguous type of contract in the various markets, its financial practice was varied. The institution of bills of exchange did not have Roman roots and was created in medieval mercantile practice to, among other things, circumvent the canonical prohibition of usury (loans with interest were prohibited). Bills of exchange began to be exchanged through "endorsement", thus inaugurating the "mobilization of credit". Generally speaking, during the modern age, exchange was understood to mean the bilateral agreement to give a certain sum and to return the same in a different kind of money. Agreements were finalized after some time and in different places with the essential elements of a consensus, the object to be exchanged and the price.