Market Constitutions
Research Project
‘The market’ is a key concept of liberal economies and Western modern societies. Markets distribute goods, regulate prices and serve social needs. Since the beginning of Western modernity, the ‘market’ principle has conquered almost all areas of social life. From commerce and health care to academia – market logic prevails everywhere. Yet the term describes a wide variety of phenomena, ranging from concrete markets such as medieval horse markets to modern national and global markets and the market as an economic model or rational principle.
The research project emphasises the central role of law in the constitution of markets. Law does not merely regulate access to markets, liberalise market prices or determine market products. Rather, law establishes market structures and organises them. As a result, law constitutes the market. Law enables and limits the exchange of goods, services and ideas. Even the medieval and early modern trade fairs were not ‘islands of the free market’. Imperial privileges and municipal escort regulations secured transport to and from the fair. Municipal rules on measurements and coins created comparability in exchange deals. Courts and legal norms accompanied trade. The project examines the legal and normative aspects of market constitutions from a historical perspective, using the examples of late medieval and early modern fairs and craftsmen’s markets as well as modern state-organised markets.