Cleirac's edition of the laws of Oleron.—Wisbuy.

Guienne only, and that it belongs to France, since it was the work of a vassal of the crown, and related to a province, at that time a fief of the French monarchy.*

5. The Jugement d'Oleron is contained in the first part of Cleirac, who has explained it by an excellent commentary; but he makes no mention of marine assurance, nor does it contain any thing relative to marine interest, or the contract of bottomry. Perhaps this contract was not known at the time this compilation was made, or, at least, was not in use in France.t

ARTICLE XI.

Of the Laws of Wisbuy.

§ 1. AFTER the Jugement d'Oleron, there appeared a compilation of ordinances, by the merchants and burgesses of Wisbuy, a city in the island of Gothland, belonging to Sweden, situate in the Baltic sea, and in the diocese of Lincossen. This city was formerly the most flourishing mart, and fair in Europe; at present, it is almost in a state of ruin.

* Emerigon, Traité des Assurances, Preface, page 11.....T.

In the Preface to the laws of Oleron, inserted in the Collection of Sea Laws, p. 117, the author gives the introduction of Cleirac at length, and contents himself with saying, that "his arguments

Origin of the city of Wisbuy.-A mistake concerning it.

2. Wisbuy* is derived from Wineta, a city of the island of Usedom. This island having been swallowed up by the ocean, the Goths built Wisbuy, to which they transferred the inhabitants who had escaped from the destruction of Wineta,(338) which, on account of its advantageous position, at the mouth of the Oder, had become a place of considerable trade. The learned Philip Melancton, and Adam Bremens, who speak of Wineta, call it Veneta. This resemblance to Venetia, the name for Venice, has, perhaps, led some writers into an error. They pretend that, a short time before Charlemagne, the island of Rhodes having lost its former splendor, by the irruption of various tribes of barbarians, and especially by the Saracens, who seized on most of the islands of the Mediterranean, commerce, and nautical science passed from the island of Rhodes, and the Mediterranean, to the island of Gothland, and the Baltic sea. But the distance of these places from each other, renders this supposition inadmissible. We have, besides, monuments of the maritime power of the Northern nations, and of their skill in the art of navigation,

are so poor that they hardly need an answer." The reader is further referred to the Introduction to the System of the Law of Marine Insurance, by I. A. Park, p. 30, 31; and to the Treatise on the Law of Insurance, by Samuel Marshall, p. 16, of the Introduc

tion....T.

* See the Preface to the " Laws of Wisbuy," in the "Collection of Sea Laws."....T.

(338) Petrus Berth, Comment. in Wysbia, lib. S.

æra.

The laws of Wisbuy were published in the 12th century.

that render it necessary to recur to a more remote We read in Tacitus, that the Sueones, or the Swedes, surrounded by the seas, were powerful on the ocean; and that their vessels, more commodious than those of the Romans, and on account of their having double prows, might touch the land without being turned round.(339.)

3. The laws of Wisbuy, so celebrated by the writers of the 12th century, at which time this maritime Code made its first appearance, as the preface preserved by Leibnitz, (340) in an ancient manuscript informs us, are a proof, that maritime commerce had long flourished in the Northern countries of Europe. These laws, at their first origin, were adopted by all the nations of the North ;(341) but the precise time is not known, and, if we may believe Selden, it was not prior to the year 1288.(342)

4. The Northern writers pretend, that the laws of Wisbuy are anterior to those of Oleron.(343) Clei

(339) Tacitus, de Moribus German. cap. 44.

(340) Script. Rerum Brunsick, tom. 3, P. 750.

(341) Olaus Magnus, Histor. lib. 10, cap. 16. Herberstein, Rerum Muscovit. Comment. p. 118.

(342) Selden, Mare clausum, lib. 2, cap. 24.

(343) Kuricke, Rubr. ad Jus Marit. Hanseat. p. 587. Lubeck, de Avariis, p. 105.

The laws of Wisbuy were received among all the nations of the North.

rac, in the preface to his work, entitled, Us et coutumes de la mer, strongly asserts the contrary,* and his opinion is confirmed by Limier, in his history of Sweden. He pretends, that they were held in as high esteem in the Baltic sea, and among all the nations of the North,† as were the Rhodian laws, and the Jugement d'Oleron, in other parts of the world. This led Bouchard to consider them as a supplement to the Role d'Oleron. (344) However this may be, Grotius(345) pretends, that the authority of these laws extended to Denmark, and Sweden, and that they were adopted by the nations beyond the Rhine. Lex Rhodia navalis pro jure gentium in illo mari Me. diterraneo vigebat, sicut apud Galliam leges Oleronis et apud omnes Transrhenanos leges Wisbuenses. Perhaps Grotius did not, at that time, know of the Consolato del Mare. (346)

5. The 45th article of this Ordinance, makes slight mention of the contract of Bottomry, and the 68th

* See Emerigon, Traitè des Assurance, Preface, page xi......T.

+ Loccenius, de Jure Maritimo et Navali in Præfat.--Quæ leges (Wysbyenses) eandem fermè authoritatem hodie obtinent quam olim leges Rhodia. Certe apud Transhenanos populos, respub. Hanseati cas, et in Regnis Borealibus communi usu receptæ et quasi jure civitatis donate sunt....T.

(344) Bouchard, Theorie des Traite de Commerce, chap. 4,

sec. 3.

(345) Grotius, Mare liberum.

(346) Olaus Magnus, and Heberstein, ibid.

Of the laws of Marseilles-Origin of that city.

article speaks of sureties given for ships. It appears, from this, that the contract of assurance, had, at that time, begun to be introduced into commerce, under the name, and form of surety; and that, consequently, there is no foundation for the opinion entertained by some writers, (347) that the origin of assurances cannot be traced further back than the 15th century.*

ARTICLE XII.

Of the Laws of Marseilles.

§ 1. THE city of Marseilles, founded by the Phoceans, (348) the most expert navigators of ancient times, was, at first, an aristocratic republic. (349) The example of its founders powerfully contributed to

(347) Stypmanus, de Jure Marit. part 4, cap. 11, art. 1, n. 3. Ansald, de Commercio, disc. 70, n. 6. Casaregis, de Commercio, disc. 2, n. 3. Gibbalinus, de Usuriis, lib. 4, cap. 11, art. 1.

* An English translation of the laws of Wisbuy, in 70 articles, is contained in the "Collection of Sea Laws." They were originally published in the Teutonick language, and, according to Olaus Magnus, lib. 10, cap. 16, were respected and received on all the coasts of Europe, from Muscovy to the Mediterranean....T.

(348) The ancient medals of Marseilles, on which is represented a head of Minerva, the divinity of the Phoceans, seem to confirm this idea of its origin.

(349) Aristotle, Politics, lib. 6, cap. 7.