Were we obliged to sum up the difference between town and country in one word, that word would be "trade." In medi?val, far more than in modern, times country places had their fairs, but London, with its markets open Sundays and week-days, enjoyed all the benefits of a perpetual fair; from which strangers and foreigners, though under some disadvantages compared with freemen, were by no means excluded.

One of the great principles regulating commercial transactions in the Middle Ages and enforced by law and custom was publicity. Bakers, as we have seen, might not sell bread "before their oven," and to this we may add that fishmongers might not take fish into their shops—they had to expose it for sale outside. The object of such arrangements was to ensure fair dealing all round. As Justice is usually figured with a pair of scales, it may be taken for granted that the important question of due weight did not escape the attention of legislators, and it attained considerable prominence in 31 Edward I. (A.D. 1303), in which year the statute De Nova Custuma was promulgated. This statute provided that in every market town and fair throughout the Kingdom there was to be erected in some fixed spot the Royal Beam or Balance, and that both vendor and purchaser were to view the scale before weighing, to see that it was empty. Prior to being used, the arms of the balance had to be exactly equal, and when the tronator was weighing, he had to remove his hands as soon as they were level. It may be observed that the citizens of London refused to accept the "New Custom," stating that it had always been the custom for all buyers of wares, whether archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, or other persons, to have the draught of the beam; but we have learnt by this time that a local custom was not allowed to override the law of the land, and thus it is most improbable that this protest, though it led to the issuing of two Royal mandates, was long persisted in.

But the "New Custom" statute contained another provision—namely, when once a bargain had been ratified, neither of the contracting parties was to recede from it. If they, or either of them, took this course after the weighing process, it would be bringing the Royal Beam into contempt, and such profanation could not be contemplated; but the sacredness of contract had been affirmed by local ordinances or customs before this measure was enacted. A contract was held to be good when God's Penny, or earnest money, had been given and received by the principals. As God's Penny, or that which it symbolized, was the basis of all business, and business was the life of towns, the custom appears worthy of notice in some detail.

The arles, or earnest money, was given to a servant on hiring, as shown by an entry in the Shuttleworth Accounts (printed by the Chetham Society) for September, 1590: "4d., earnest money, was paid unto a cook to serve at the next Assizes." Similarly, in February, 1592: "To John Hay upon earnest to serve for a year as butler and brewster at Smithhills, 4d." Previous entries state that 12d. was paid to John Horebyn "upon erlynges" of a bargain for ditching, and that "3d. was given of erles unto the gardener for his hiring another year."

Mr. Gerald P. Gordon, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, quotes as an analogous instance the gift of the "King's shilling" to a recruit on enlistment. As regards mercantile transactions he considers that the usage "was not so much a partial or symbolic payment of the price as a distinct payment for the seller's forbearance to deliver to somebody else." This view of the case appears to us extremely doubtful, as it would render the contract binding on one of the parties only—namely, the buyer; whereas Bracton and "Fleta" aver that if the seller default he must pay double the earnest. Mr. Gordon subsequently adduces a Preston decree, that "if a buyer should buy any goods in large or small quantities and give earnest, and he who agreed to sell should rue the bargain, he shall pay the double asked. But if the buyer fingers the goods, he must either take them or pay the seller 5s." We infer, therefore, from his evidence alone, that the payment of earnest was essentially symbolical and served all the purpose of a written contract.

That the act was regarded as expressive of mutual understanding is shown by a Northampton ordinance of about the year 1260: "That if anyone put a penny or any merchandise before the seller be agreed to the bargain, he shall forfeit the penny to the use of the bailiffs." The importance of the due-fulfilment of the contract was recognized by the imposition of a penalty on anyone who delivered the earnest and afterwards declined to make good the bargain. At Waterford about 1300 it was enacted that "whoever gives God's silver and repents, be he who h............