Abstract

Insurance law in the eighteenth century is often seen as a perfect illustration of the way commercial law emerged from a relationship between the judges and the merchants, with Lord Mansfield at the centre, drawing on mercantile custom. This view tends to subordinate the role of both the merchants and Parliament. Yet, merchants were involved in shaping the law not just as witnesses and jurors in Mansfield’s court, but also through their promotion of, and opposition to, legislation, and through the ways in which business was conducted and disputes were resolved.