ch might arise between the
ship-owners and captains. The commercial court,[8] which, in addition to
its own special functions, took the place of the properly Syrian courts,
was constituted of four Syrian and two Frankish judges, under the
presidency of a Frank. This was an important measure, and indicated
great progress in international commercial intercourse, since in other
matters the various nationalities of the kingdom were so strictly
distinguished that the Syrian could not be witness against the Greek, or
the Frank against the Armenian, or the Jacobite against the Nestorian,
etc. In commerce and trade, the assizes held not so strictly in relation
to religion and national descent; for whether Syrian or Greek, Jew or
Samaritan, Nestorian or Saracen, they were still men, as well as the
Franks, and must pay or serve according to judgment rendered, just as in
the burghers' court, and hence it was determined that the court of
commerce should apply the assizes of the burghers' court.

The above is given as the basis upon which the legislation of the
kingdom rested, and now we may best hear the assizes themselves in
regard to the beginnings of this legislation. In the first chapter of
the assizes of the high court, as given us by John of Ibelin, we have
the following:

'When the holy city of Jerusalem was won from the enemies of the
cross, and restored to the true men of the Saviour, * * * when the
princes and barons who conquered it had chosen, as king and lord of
the kingdom of Jerusalem, Godfrey of Boulogne, * * * who was a man
of understanding, and anxious to place the said kingdom in a good
condition, and to have his people and all others who should come
and go and dwell in the kingdom, guided, kept, ruled, sustained,
held together, and judged according to justice and reason, he
chose, upon the advice of the patriarch of the holy city and church
of Jerusalem, and that of the princes, barons, and wisest men he
could find, prudent men, whose business it should be to inquire and
know from the people of various lands there present, what were the
customs of their respective countries. All that these men could
ascertain they wrote, or caused to be written, and laid before Duke
Godfrey, who assembled the patriarch and the other people
mentioned above, showed them the result, and caused the papers to
be read to them. With their counsel and