MARK. 



MARKETS, AGRICULTURAL. 



490 



proves that he must have had opportunities of constant intercourse 

 with the apostles and first Christians. 



(Lardner's Credibility and Lives of the Apostles and Evangelists'; 

 Cave's Lives of the Apostles and Evangelists ; Kuinoel, Comment, in Lib. 

 ffift. N. T., Proley. in Marc. ; Introduction to the Gospel according to 

 St. Mark, in the Pictorial Bible, by Dr. Kitto, edit. 1849 ; and the 

 Introduftions of Michaelis, De Wette, Hug, and Home.) 



MARK. [MONEY.] 



MARKET (mereatnm), a public place and fixed time for the meeting 

 of buyers and sellers. A legal market can exist only by virtue of a 

 charter from the crown or by immemorial user, from which it will be 

 presumed that a royal charter once existed, although it can be no 

 longer produced. A market is usually granted to the owner of the 

 soil in which it is appointed to be held, who, as such grantee, becomes 

 the owner, or lord, of the market. In upland towns, that is, towns 

 which, not being walled, had not attained the dignity of boroughs, 

 markets were frequently granted to lords of manors ; but in walled 

 towns or boroughs, particularly in such as were incorporated, the 

 ownership of the soil having usually, by grant from the crown, or other 

 lords of whom the borough was originally holden, been vested in the 

 incorporated burgesses, the course has commonly been to grant 

 markets to the municipal body. 



The prerogative of conferring a right to hold a market is however 

 subject to this limitation, that the grant must not be prejudicial to 

 others, more especially to the owners of existing markets. In order 

 that the crown may not be surprised into the making of an improper 

 grant, the first step is, to issue a writ ad quod damnum, under which 

 the sheriff of the county is to summon a jury before him to inquire 

 whether the proposed grant will be to the damage of the king or any 

 of his subjects. This writ must be executed in a fair and open 

 manner, and the sheriff is bound to receive evidence tendered against, 

 as well as in favour of the grant. But as the writ does not purport to 

 affect the interest of any person in particular, it is not necessary that 

 notice should be given of the time or place at which it is meant to be 

 executed. Notwithstanding a finding by the jury that the proposed 

 market will not be injurious, any party who conceives that his interests 

 are affected by the grant when made, whether he appeared upon the 

 inquiry under the writ ad quod damnum or not, may traverse the 

 finding, or sue out a writ of scire facias, which, after reciting the 

 alleged injury, calls upon the grantee, in the name of the crown, to 

 show cause why the grant should not be cancelled. If a new market 

 be set up without any grant from the crown, the party is liable to be 

 called upon by the crown to show by what warrant he exercises such a 

 franchise [LIBERTY ; Quo WARRANTO] ; and he is also liable to an 

 action on the case for damages, at the suit of any person to whose 

 market, or to whose property, the market so set up by the defendant 

 i a nuisance. A new market is presumed to be injurious to another 

 held within the distance of twenty miles, even though it be on a 

 different day, but this presumption may be rebutted. 



Formerly markets were held chiefly on Sundays and holidays, for 

 the convenience of dealers and customers, brought together for the 

 purpose of hearing divine service. But in 1285, by 13 Edward I., c. 

 6, fairs and markets were forbidden to be held in churchyards ; and in 

 1448, by 27 Henry VI., c. 5, all showing of goods and merchandise, 

 except necessary victuals, in fairs and markets, was to cease on the 

 great festivals of the church, and on all Sundays, except the four 

 Sundays in harvest. The holding of fairs and markets for any purpose 

 on any Sunday was prohibited in 1677, by 29 Charles II., c. 7. 



The grantee of a market has a court of record called a court of pie- 

 powder (pieds pouldreux, " dusty feet "), for the prompt decision of 

 matters arising in the market. [PIE-POWDER COURT.] Such a court 

 being considered necessary for the expedition of justice and for the 

 support of the market, the power of holding it is incident to a grant of 

 a market, even ,though the royal letters patent by which the grant is 

 made be entirely silent on the subject. 



Sales in markets may be of goods actually brought within the 

 precincts of the market, or of goods not so brought. Goods not within 

 the precincts of the market are sold sometimes by sample, sometimes 

 without sample. Where goods are usually brought into the market 

 for sale, it is incumbent on the lord of the market to take care that 

 every thing be sold by correct and legal weights and measures. 



For the security of dealings in markets, contracts were formerly 

 required to be made in the presence of an officer appointed for that 

 purpose by the lord of the market, for which service he received from 

 the, buyer a small remuneration called market-toll. [TOLL.] 



It is a rule of the common law that every sale in market-overt (open 

 market) transfers to the buyer a complete property in the thing sold ; 

 so that however defective the title of the vendor may be, yet that 

 acquired by the vendee is perfect, even where the property belongs to a 

 person who is under legal disability, as an infant, a married woman, an 

 idiot, or a person in prison or beyond sea. In London every shop is 

 market-overt for goods usually sold there. 



This rule is subject to certain exceptions and restrictions. A sale in 

 market-overt does not bind the rights of the crown ; nor does it bind 

 the rights of others, unless the Rale be in an open place, as a shop, and 

 not a warehouse or other private part of the house, so that those who 

 go along cannot see what is doing, and not in a snop with the shop- 

 door or windows shut, BO that the goods cannot be seen. The articles 



bought must be such as the party usually deals in. The sale must be 

 without fraud on the part of the buyer, and without any knowledge 

 on his part of any want of title in the vendor. If the seller acquire 

 the goods again, the effect of the sale in barring the true owner is 

 defeated. There may be a sale and contract; and therefore the 

 property is not altered in market-overt in goods given, or in goods 

 pawned, or in goods sold to the real owner. The sale must be between 

 sunrise and sunset ; and must be commenced and completed in the 

 market. 



By 21 Henry VIII. c. 2, " If any felon rob or take away money, 

 goods, or chattels, and be indicted and found guilty, or otherwise 

 attainted upon evidence given by the owner or party robbed, or by any 

 other by their procurement, the owner or party robbed shall be 

 restored to his money, goods, or chattels." Since this statute, stolen 

 goods, specified in the indictment, have, upon the conviction of the 

 offender, been restored to the prosecutor, notwithstanding any sale in 

 market-overt. 



As stolen horses can be easily conveyed to distant markets, the legis- 

 lature has frequently interposed to protect the owner against the 

 consequences of a sale in market-overt. Thus, by 31 Elizabeth, c. 12, 

 " No person shall in any fair or market sell, give, exchange, or put 

 away any horse, mare, &c., unless the toll-taker, book-keeper, bailiff, 

 or other chief officer will take upon him perfect knowledge of the per- 

 son that shall so sell, give, or exchange any horse, &e., and of his true 

 name, surname, and dwelling-place, and shall enter the same in a book 

 there kept for sale of horses ; or else that he so selling or offering to 

 sell, &c., any horse, &c., shall bring unto the toll-taker or other officer 

 aforesaid of the same fair or market, one sufficient and credible person, 

 that can testify before such toll-taker, &c., that he knows the party 

 that so sells, &c., such horse, &c., and his true name, surname, mistery, 

 and dwelling-place, and there enter in the book of the toll-taker or 

 officer, as well the true name, surname, mistery, and place of 

 dwelling of him that so sells, &c., such horse, &c., as of him that so 

 shall testify his knowledge of the same person, and shall also enter the 

 true price that he shall have for the same horse, &c." And by sect. 4, 

 "If any horse, 4c., be stolen, and afterwards sold in open fair or 

 market, and the sale shall be used in all points and circumstances as 

 aforesaid, yet the sale of any such horse, &c., within six months after 

 the felony, shall not take away the property of the owner, so as claim 

 be made within six months, before the mayor or other head officer of 

 the town or parish, if the horse, &c., happen to be found in any town 

 corporate or market-town, or else before any justice of peace of the 

 county near to the place where such horse, &c., shall be found, if it be 

 out of a town corporate or market-town, and so as proof be mado 

 within forty days, by two sufficient witnesses, before such head officer 

 or justice, that the property of the horse, &c., so claimed, was in tho 

 party by whom such claim is made, and was stolen within six months 

 next before such claim, but that the party from whom the horse, &c., 

 was stolen may at all times after, notwithstanding any sale in fair or 

 market, have property and power to take again the said horse, &c., 

 upon payment or offer to pay the party that shall have the possession 

 and interest of the same horse, &c., if he will accept it, so much money 

 as the party shall depose and swear before such head officer or justice 

 of peace, that he paid for the same bond fide without fraud or collusion." 

 This statute extends to a horse taken by wrong, though it be not 

 stolen. 



A market is generally appointed to be held once, twice, or three 

 times in a week, for the current supply of commodities, mostly of pro- 

 visions. A large market held once or twice a-year is called a fair ; and, 

 according to Lord Coke, a large fair held once a-year is a mart. 



Fairs have all the legal incidents of markets, and are subjected to 

 further regulations by 2 Edw. III. c. 15, one of which requires, that 

 at the opening of the fair, proclamation be made of the time it is to 

 continue. 



MARKETS, AGRICULTURAL. The more numerous markets are 

 in any well cultivated country, provided they are at a sufficient distance 

 not to interfere with each other, and on different days of the week, tho 

 greater saving there is of time and labour of conveyance. Good roads 

 or navigable rivers are of great importance to a market-town ; and if 

 there are mills in the neighbourhood, where corn can be ground, they 

 will increase the advantage to the farmer by causing a regular demand 

 above what the immediate consumption of the place may require. 



The vicinity of a good market where every kind of agricultural 

 produce will always find purchasers at a fair price, greatly adds to the 

 value of a farm, especially if good roads lead to it ; and the advantage 

 is the greater if it be a populous town, which not only consumes much 

 produce, but from which various kinds of manure may be brought by 

 the teams which have carried the produce to market. 



It is perhaps for the general advantage that the farmers should bring 

 their corn in regularly, without speculating on a rise or fall of prices. 

 Nevertheless they may be safely left to follow the dictates of their own 

 judgment, influenced as that is by the rise and fall of prices, which aro 

 the only indications we have of the demand requiring supply. The 

 farmer is tempted to withhold his corn when the price is low, in order 

 to have a greater profit when it rises ; and, to a certain degree, he is 

 justified in doing so : but if he speculates on his own corn, when he 

 can obtain a fair price for it, he becomes a merchant, as much as if he 

 purchased to sell at a profit. When there is a good market at hand, 



