all prove that the former was the element which modified the latter,
rather than the latter the former. In so far as the expansion of
commerce and the increasing complexity of intercourse raised questions
which seemed to indicate that mercantile convenience conflicted with
received teaching, it is probable that the difficulty was not so much
caused by a contradiction between the former and the latter, as by the
fact that an interpretation of the doctrine as applied to the facts
of the new situation was not available before the new situation had
actually arisen. This is a phenomenon frequently met with at the
present day in legal practice; but no lawyer would dream of asserting
that, because there had arisen an unprecedented state of facts, to
which the application of the law was a matter of doubt or difficulty,
therefore the law itself was obsolete or incomplete. Examples of such
a conflict are familiar to any one who has ever studied the case law
on any particular subject, either in a country such as England, where
the law is unwritten, or in continental countries, where the most
exhaustive and complete codes have been framed. Nevertheless, in spite
of the occurrence of such difficulties, it would be foolish to contend
that the laws in force for the time being have not a greater influence
on the practice of mercantile transactions than the convenience of
merchants has upon the law. How much more potent must this influence
have been when the law did not apply simply to outward observances,
but to the inmost recesses of the consciences of believing Christians!

The opinion that mediaeval teaching exercised a profound effect on
mediaeval practice is supported by authorities of the weight of Ashley,
Ingram, and Cunningham,[1] the last of whom was in some respects
unsympathetic to the teaching the influence of which he rates so
highly. 'It has indeed,' writes Sir William Ashley, 'not infrequently
been hinted that all the elaborate argumentation of canonists and
theologians was "a cobweb of the brain," with no vital relation to
real life. Certain German writers have, for instance, maintained that,
alongside of the canonist doctrine with regard to trade, there existed
in mediaeval Europe a commercial law, recognised in the secular courts,
and altogether opposed to the peculiar doctrines of the canonists.
It is true that parts of mercantile jurisprudence, such as the law of
partnership, had to a large extent originated in the s