Local Customs and Common Laws

Lawyers in Scotland in the later sixteenth century took a disproportionate interest in the law governing maritime commerce. Some essays in this collection consider their handling of the subject in treatises they wrote. Other essays, however, show that disputes relating to maritime trade were handled in a different way in the courts of the towns at which ships arrived. Further essays examine the relationship between these contrasting perspectives. Although the essays focus on the law governing maritime commerce in Scotland, they also contribute to a wider debate about the nature of maritime law in early-modern Europe.

J.D. Ford holds the chair of Civil Law at the University of Aberdeen. His edition of Alexander King’s Treatise on Maritime Law appeared in 2018, and his book about The Emergence of Privateering was published by Brill in 2023.

“...voor liefhebbers van de ontwikkeling van het maritiem recht (ofwel op het gebied van piraterij en kaapvaart, dan wel op het gebied van 'privaat' maritiem recht) is dit een absolute must read.” – Gijs Dreijer, in: Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 43/2 (2024), p. 83