The ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' ( ca, Llibre del Consolat de Mar, lit=''Book of the Consulate of Sea'') is a compendium of

maritime law Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

that governed

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

for centuries. Of

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

origin, it was translated into many languages and served as the basis for current

international maritime law Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

. When setting the first

Consulate of the Sea The Consulate of the Sea ( ca, Consolat de mar; ) was a quasi-judicial body set up in the Crown of Aragon, later to spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, to administer maritime and commercial law. The term may also refer to a celebrated co ...

in Valencia, king

Peter III of Aragon Peter III of Aragon ( November 1285) was King of Aragon, King of Valencia (as ), and Count of Barcelona (as ) from 1276 to his death. At the invitation of some rebels, he conquered the Kingdom of Sicily and became King of Sicily in 1282, pres ...

decided to apply the maritime customs of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, called , which had not yet been codified, although there did already exist in Barcelona another compilation of maritime rules, called , which established norms for policing harbours and coastal waters.'' The merit of the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' is that it is the first work to collect the scattered laws and customs of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Rhodian Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

, Italian, French and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

maritime rights. Until the publication of the in France in 1681, the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' was the code of maritime law in force throughout the Mediterranean. In Spain it continued in use until the introduction of the Spanish '' Commercial Code.'' ''The Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' effectively replaced the Amalfi Tables, a set of rules written in

Amalfi Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramatic c ...

to regulate maritime trade.

Origin

According to Chiner and Chacon, the Ordinances of the Ribera (i.e. seaside) ('' Ordinationes Ripariae ''), written in 1258, did not yet encode the maritime customs of Barcelona, and that the first reference to "Sea consuls" appears in Barcelona in 1282, just one year before the Consulate of the Sea was created in Valencia. Also note that the consuls of Barcelona had no independence assigned later on in the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea''. Customs collected in the book would be in part coming from a Barcelona origin, but many would have been created and consolidated in Valencia, from which have been copied to the subsequently created consulates. According to Arcadi Garcia Sanz, the main difference between the consulates of Barcelona and Valencia would be the fact that the latter had from the start a "royal jurisdiction", and therefore has influenced so strongly in the other consulates in the fifteenth century. Customs Consulate were explicitly based on the '' Usus at consuetudo Maris '' according to the privilege of founding of the December 1 of 1283, which was a juridic set of maritime practices (''Usus Maris'') based on a written legal text ''(Consuetudo Maris) a''nd both together would be the jurídicomarítima tradition of the western Mediterranean. is documented that the text was already in Catalonia, as it was in Vic 1231, and was incorporated in Catalan in the 'Custom of Tortosa in 1272. This paper certainly come from outside the Peninsula and have introduced through "maritime Costums of Ribera" from Barcelona. The ''General Encyclopedia of the Sea'' says there is a controversy on the origin of the book, in which three countries dispute the glory of being the first to have written it: France (

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

), Spain (

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and

Tortosa Tortosa (; ) is the capital of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buin ...

) and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

). In the late eighteenth century, Antonio de Capmany y Montpalau concludes, after deeply studying the subject, that the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' was written in Barcelona between 1258 and 1266, accepting the influence from

, and he rejecting the arguments that gave an Italian origin to the book.Capmany, pp. xii–xxv At the same time, the

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

n Domenico Azun argues in favor of a Pisan origin, stating that, Pisa as a leading maritime power of the time, should necessarily have their own maritime legislation. French Pardessus, in his study ''Collection de lois maritimes anterieures au XVIII siècle'' disagrees from Azun, considering that the first copy is not the one written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

that he had studied, but the one written in

. He assumes that it was handwritten in Barcelona, but between 1340 and 1400, disagreeing on this point with Capmany. Later, Wildscut, considering that the original compilation makes no reference to the

Bills of exchange A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a ...

, he concludes that this Catalan document must predate the first half of the 13th century.Enciclopedia General del Mar. Ediciones Garriga Barcelona (1957)

Influence and impact

The expansion of the

Catalan Navy The Catalan navy was a navy from Catalonia. It encompassed the Catalan ships, Catalan admirals and Catalan crew, that were under the direct or indirect orders of the counts of Barcelona and represented a reality recognized throughout the Medite ...

and its commercial and maritime supremacy meant that the '' Book of the Consulate of the Sea '' was respected throughout the Mediterranean and up into the Atlantic. Based originally on the maritime customs of Barcelona and supplemented by the Valencia Consulate of the Sea, the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' laid the basis for all subsequent Mediterranean maritime customs. Originally written in

, the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' was translated into

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, French,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Castilian and other languages, and for centuries was the basis of merchant marine legislation in many countries, even up to modern times. An annex of the book contains Barcelona's ordinances of 1435 on marine insurance. The wide circulation of the book helped spread these ordinances throughout Europe. The

Nueva Planta decrees The Nueva Planta decrees ( es, link=no, Decretos de Nueva Planta, ca, Decrets de Nova Planta, en, link=no, "Decrees of the New Plant") were a number of decrees signed between 1707 and 1716 by Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain, during ...

(1707–1716) entirely suppressed the Consulates of the Sea in Mediterranean Coast, except in Mallorca and Barcelona. The latter did not usually act in interference with the Bourbon laws. The rules of the Book of the Consulate of the Sea were active in Spain until 1829, when they were replaced by the

code of commerce, inspired by French law. Several European countries continued to use these ordinances until the eighteenth century. In 1874 Sir Travers Twiss translated them into English for reasons of utility, in the early twentieth century a court in the United States denied an action on the grounds of its not being supported by the ''Consulate of the Sea,'' and in March 1937 the Court of Appeal of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

quoted a chapter of the book in its judgment.

Editions

First compilation 1320–1330

The first Valencian collection of customs sea was made in Valencia between 1320 and 1330.

Majorcan Edition 1345

The city of Mallorca surrendered to ''

Peter the Ceremonious Peter IV, ; an, Pero, ; es, Pedro, . In Catalan, he may also be nicknamed ''el del punyalet'': "he of the little dagger". (Catalan: ''Pere IV''; 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''el Cerimoniós''), w ...

,'' and in 1343 was awarded the "''Consolat de Mar de Mallorques''", governed by the customs of Valencia, "per modum the form in civitate Valencia usitatos". According to Arcadi Garcia Sanz, it became an adaptation and not a replica. Huguet Borras drafted the ''Ordre judiciària de la Cort dels cònsols del mar de la ciutat de València''; (''judiciary Order of the Court of consuls Sea of the city of Valencia) '' and rewrote the Valencian customs, creating a compilation called '' Capítols del Consolat de mar de Mallorques (chapters of the Sea Consulate of Mallorca), ''documented for the first time on 14 February 1345.

Valencian Consulat de Mar 1407

It is considered the masterpiece of medieval maritime law, and one of the icons of valencian jurisprudence. The original manuscript is preserved in the Municipal Archives of Valencia. It is a work of great historical value with great international impact through the centuries. There are several medieval manuscript copies, although one of the finest examples from the artistic point of view is the codex called "Consolat del Mar" with miniatures from Domingo Crespi made in 1407, kept in the Municipal Archives of Valencia.

First publication in print between 1436 and 1484

With the advent of the printing press, the first known printed edition is the one of 1436–1484 from

.ar / adetail.asp? id = 546 were baptized insurance Seawater
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Barcelona Edition of 1502 (Foreword by Francisco Celelles)

Pedro the Ceremonious gave Barcelona its

saying he would be in the same form as that of Mallorca, "sub ea scilicet forma qua concessum est civitati Maioricarum". Customs were adapted from Valencia in Mallorca, and from there in Barcelona.Capmany, pp. 317–318 Capmany says that because of these adaptations the first seven chapters dealt with matters that were only useful for Valencia Sea consuls, and several laws and ordinances from Barcelona were added indiscriminately, adding that the rest of chapters of the ordinations that form the biggest part of the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' was not copied from Mallorca and Valencia, but was compiled thereof from Barcelona customs known as '' Free Consulate of the Sea '' and being those Barcelona's customs compiled before the Valencian ordinations by early printers, have caused confusion in later authors, who have given a Valencian origin when in fact they have originated in Barcelona. The first edition came out of print on 14 August 1502. Part I consists of 43 chapters that prescribe methods to choose the consuls of the sea and appellate judges in

, the legal responsibilities of each and the procedural regulations of awards of cases brought before them. Articles 44 and 45 were discarded, probably for being illegible, as shipments concerned towards Alexandria Part II consisted of Articles 46 to 334 of the laws of the year 1343. The first area of Article 46 to 297, deals with generally accepted customs of maritime trade, while the second area, up to 298 items 334, it deals with the

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s, piracy, armed naval expeditions, convoys, maritime insurance, bills of exchange and other various materials. The original manuscript of the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris has the following inscription appearing at the end of Article 217: "El llibre acaba aquí. Gloria a Jesus Crist. Amen" ("The book ends here Gloria Jesus Christ, amen.")

First Lawyers

Article 43 prescribes the oath of office for the lawyers of Mallorca, decreed by

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...

and promulgated before the year 1275. It is not known when or by whom it was imposed an oath to lawyers of Barcelona and other cities.

Moliné y Brasés edition of 1914

One of the most complete editions is due to Moliné y Brasés of 1914, which contains not only the old customs prior to the first compilation but included all subsequent contributions. Contains: * The regulations of the consuls of Sea from Valencia. (1 to 45) * The maritime customs of Barcelona. (46–297) * The arrangements for armed ships that go along armed and leaving the sea. (298–334) * The chronicle of enactments. * Chapters of king Oere Terç. (1 to 40) * The ordinations of 'consuls' of Barcelona for the Consulate of the Sea of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. * The ordinations of 'consuls' of Barcelona on maritime events of November 21, 1435. * Laws and ordinations '' Recognoverunt Proceres '' on maritime and commercial cases. * The ordinations of 'consuls' of Barcelona on marine insurance. * Chapters and ordinations of the General Court of the General Chapter of Barcelona of October 8, 1481.

Compilations in the antiquity

The oldest collection is probably the Babylonian index, from the eighteenth century BC, followed by the "Phoenician customs" compiled in 2000 BC, that were copied by the Greeks and later by the Romans. The people of Rhodes directly adapted the Phoenician laws. The Greeks have founded a Greek colony in Empuries and kept a constant sea trade with

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

following therefore the "Greek costums".

Compilations from which originated

The book was inspired distantly from previous compilations, as the Pisan ''Constitutum usus'' (1161) and ''Breve consulum maris'' (1162) and the Latin text ''Consuetudo maris '' of the first half of the 13th century, which has been documented in Catalonia in 1231. In 1010 were codified in

the ''Tabula Amalphitana ''or ''Tavole Amalfi, ''followed by the codification of maritime customs of

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, in southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the fir ...

in 1063, which were then adapted by the city of

Fermo Fermo (ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest hum ...

. In 1243

has demarcated the Ribera (seaside) of

and its ordinances were codified in 1258 in the ''Carta consulatus riparie Barchinone'', which had not yet codified the maritime customs of Barcelona itself. Shortly afterwards, Barcelona's municipal boundaries were reorganized and the Ribera (seaside) came under the Consell de Cent, so the Ribera (seaside) lost its autonomy. In the last quarter of the 13th century Barcelona consuls they started naming the great men of the Ribera (seaside), which in 1282 were named "consols de mar" ("consuls of sea").

Compilations with its influence

Many authors believe that the laws specified in the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' had a big influence on all other compilations of maritime law in Europe, which are partly based on it. Some of these laws specified in the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' were already adopted in the ninth century in places like the Baltic, the North Sea, the

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

sea:

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, Wisby,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

and other cities of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

, being published since 1407 under the title '' Waterrecht '', also called laws of Wisby. According to some authors the Rules of Oléron were compiled by

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...

and expanded and promulgated by

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

on his return from the Holy Land, but others say

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...

would have proclaimed them already in 1160. The fact is that the exact origin of these laws is disputed and, given the lack of communication between sailors of the Atlantic and Mediterranean sailors, it is possible the absence of influence between them. However, laws compiled in the Mediterranean eventually surpassed in importance those of the Atlantic and arrived to replace them, as the Mediterranean countries used to have more maritime activity during several centuries. The ''

Black Book of the Admiralty The ''Black Book of the Admiralty'' is a compilation of English admiralty law created over the course of several English monarchs' reigns, including the most important decisions of the High Court of Admiralty. Its starting point is the Rolls of ...

'' of Britain also dates back to the twelfth century.

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

Libre apellat con(n)solat de mar in Cervantes virtual (in catalan)

{{Works about sailing Law of the sea Catalan language History of Catalonia Legal history of Spain 14th-century manuscripts Nautical reference works 1320s books Medieval Catalan literature