egan
to give indications of its future commercial greatness. The number of
transactions increased as the facility for carrying them on became
greater. Consumption being extended, production progressively followed,
and so commerce went on gaining strength as it widened its sphere.
Everything, in fact, seemed to contribute to its expansion. The downfall
of the feudal system and the establishment in each country of a central
power, more or less strong and respected, enabled it to extend its
operations by land with a degree of security hitherto unknown; and, at the
same time, international legislation came in to protect maritime trade,
which was still exposed to great dangers. The sea, which was open freely
to the whole human race, gave robbers comparatively easy means of
following their nefarious practices, and with less fear of punishment than
they could obtain on the shore of civilised countries. For this reason
piracy continued its depredations long after the enactment of severe laws
for its suppression.

This maritime legislation did not wait for the sixteenth century to come
into existence. Maritime law was promulgated more or less in the twelfth
century, but the troubles and agitations which weakened and disorganized
empires during that period of the Middle Ages, deprived it of its power
and efficiency. The _Code des Rhodiens_ dates as far back as 1167; the
_Code de la Mer_, which became a sort of recognised text-book, dates from
the same period; the _Lois d'Oleron_ is anterior to the twelfth century,
and ruled the western coasts of France, being also adopted in Flanders and
in England; Venice dated her most ancient law on maritime rights from
1255, and the Statutes of Marseilles date from 1254.

[Illustration: Fig. 198.--Execution of the celebrated pirate Stoertebeck
and his seventy accomplices, in 1402, at Hamburg.--From a popular Picture
of the end of the Sixteenth Century (Hamburg Library).]

The period of the establishment of commercial law and justice
corresponds with that of the introduction of national and universal codes
of law and consular jurisdiction. These may be said to have originated in
the sixth century in the laws of the Visigoths, which empowered foreign
traders to be judged by delegates from their own countries. The Venetians
had consuls in the Greek empire as early as the tenth century, and we may
fairly presume that the French had consuls in Palestine during the reign
of Charlemagne. In the th