144 Corn mid Corn Products Trades 



corn at home fell to certain prices listed;^ and (b) permitting the in- 

 grossing of corn when it fell to certain prices listed.^ 



Hereafter, while wheat was 485 or lower anyone might engage in 

 the trade, buying and storing it, or buying and exporting it. Many 

 who had not the qualifications that would entitle them to a badger's 

 license were now free to badge when they saw fit. Hence the statute 

 of 1663 virtually repealed the statutes of 1552 and 1562 intermittently, 

 that is, every time the abundance of wheat or other events forced the 

 price down to 48s. It not only repealed it intermittently but 

 locally also, since the price at certain ports might be lower than at 

 others. Confusion was thus introduced into the system. 



Besides the badgers could only be Ucensed at the Quarter Sessions; 

 if out of or between these sessions the price of wheat rose above the 

 legal 485, according to law those not licensed would have to stop buy- 

 ing and selling till the sessions opened, and those not qualified to 

 take out licenses would have to stop indefinitely. It is idle to suppose 

 that either was done, nor would it be desirable. Those who had in- 

 volved their capital in the trade could not and would not thus readily 

 leave it off; and their experience in the trade would have made them 

 most competent to conduct it.^ The Act of 1663 was therefore an 

 opening wedge in the rigid restraint laid by law upon the middlemen 

 of the corn trade. 



Another dissolving element was a practice newly resorted to of 

 selling corn by samples.'* Doubtless this arose as a simple economy 

 of carriage expense.^ The practice was but beginning in 1718 when 

 it was thus described: 



'•The prices set were wheat, 48^, barley, 28^, oats, I3s 6d, the quarter. VV^hen 

 com reached these prices "then it shall be lawful for all and every Person and Per- 

 sons to ship, load, carry and transport any of the said Corns or Grains, from the 

 Havens or Places where they shall be of such Prices, unto any Ports beyond the 

 Seas as Merchandise." Sec. 2. 



2 The prices were the same as above. When com reached these, " then it shall 

 be lawful for all and every Person and Persons (not forestalling nor selling the same 

 in the Market within three Months after buying thereof) to buy in open Market, 

 and to lay up . . . and sell again, such Com . . . without incurring any 

 Penalty." Sec. 2. 



* Smith, Com Trade, 8-9, presents this view. 



^ Sales of com by sample are mentioned in the regulations of the London markets 

 as early as 1420; see Lib. Alb., Ill, 79. Its practice must have been limited, and 

 was prohibited by ordinance. 



5 Gent. Mag., 1756: 623; Pitt, Staffordshire, 231. 



