Lex mercatoria

It developed into an integrated body of law that was voluntarily produced, adjudicated and enforced on a voluntary basis[citation needed], alleviating the friction stemming from the diverse backgrounds and local traditions of the participants.

[citation needed] With lex mercatoria professional merchants revitalized the almost nonexistent commercial activities in Europe, which had plummeted after the fall of the Roman Empire.

new theories had changed the understanding of this medieval treatise considering it as proposal for legal reform or a document used for instructional purposes[citation needed].

These theories consider that the treatise cannot be described as a body of laws applicable in its time, but the desire of a legal scholar to improve and facilitate the litigation between merchants.

But even as early as 1608, Chief Justice Edward Coke described lex mercatoria as "a part of the common law", and William Blackstone would later concur.

Holt did not complete the task, possibly out of his own conservatism (see Clerke v Martin[7][full citation needed]) and it was Lord Mansfield that became known as the 'founder of the commercial law of this country" (Great Britain).