Litigating abroad : merchant’s expectations regarding procedure before foreign courts according to the hanseatic privileges (12th - 16th c.)

  • Between the 12th and 16th centuries the Hanseatic merchants obtained extremely important privileges from the rulers of the countries with whom they traded. These secured their commercial and legal status and the autonomy of their staples in Flanders, England, Norway, Denmark and Russia. Within these privileges no other subject receives so extensive a treatment as court procedure. Here, the single most important concern of the Hanseatic merchants was their position in front of alien courts. The article analyses the great attention given to court procedure in the twenty main Hanseatic privileges: What did the merchants require? Which procedural rules were necessary to encourage them to submit their disputes to alien public court instead of taking the matter into their own hands and turning to extra-judicial methods to resolve matters, e.g. cancellation of business relations, boycotts or even trade wars? This analysis suggests that the two most important concerns reflected in the procedural rules were to avoid delay to the next trading trip and to ensure a rational law of proof. The former was addressed by pressing for short-term scheduling and swift judgment and by the dispensation from appearing before the court in person. The latter included avoidance of duels and other ordeals and the attempt to obtain parity by appointing half of the jurors from Hanseatic cities.

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Metadaten
Author:Albrecht CordesGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-290169
Parent Title (German):LOEWE-Schwerpunkt "Außergerichtliche und gerichtliche Konfliktlösung" : Arbeitspapier = LOEWE research focus "Extrajudicial and judicial conflict resolution" : working paper ; 4
Series (Serial Number):LOEWE-Schwerpunkt "Außergerichtliche und gerichtliche Konfliktlösung" : Arbeitspapier = LOEWE research focus "Extrajudicial and judicial conflict resolution" : working paper (4)
Publisher:Goethe-Univ., Fachbereich Rechtswiss., Lehrstuhl für Zivilrecht, Zivilprozessrecht, Internat. Privatrecht und Rechtsvergleichung
Place of publication:Frankfurt am Main
Document Type:Working Paper
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2013/03/06
Date of first Publication:2013/03/06
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2013/03/06
Tag:Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR); Gerichte; Handelsrechtsprechung; Hanse; Kaufleute; Privilegien; Rechtsstreitigkeiten; Verfahren; Verfahrensregeln
Hanse; alternative oispute resolution (ADR); courts; litigation; merchants; privileges; procedural rules; procedure; trade jurisdiction
Page Number:16
HeBIS-PPN:333555465
Institutes:Rechtswissenschaft / Rechtswissenschaft
Exzellenzcluster / Exzellenzcluster Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen
Wissenschaftliche Zentren und koordinierte Programme / LOEWE-Schwerpunkt Außergerichtliche und gerichtliche Konfliktlösung
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 34 Recht / 340 Recht
9 Geschichte und Geografie / 94 Geschichte Europas / 940 Geschichte Europas
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht