s a document known by the title of
_The Acceptations_, which purports to record that the previous chapters
and ordinances had been approved by the Roman people in the 11th
century, and by various princes and peoples in the 12th and 13th
centuries. Capmany was the first person to question the authenticity of
this document in his _Memorias historicas sobre la marina, &c., de
Barcelona_, published at Madrid in 1779-1792. Pardessus and other
writers on maritime law followed up the inquiry in the 19th century, and
have conclusively shown that the document, whatever may have been its
origin, has no proper reference to the _Book of the Consulate_, and is,
in fact, of no historical value whatsoever. The paging of the edition of
1494 ceases with this document, at the end of which is the printer's
colophon, reciting that "the work was completed on the 14th of July
1494, at Barcelona, by Pere Posa, priest and printer." The remainder of
the volume consists of what may be regarded as an appendix to the
original _Book of the Consulate_. This appendix contains various
maritime ordinances of the kings of Aragon and of the councillors of the
city of Barcelona, ranging over a period from 1340 to 1484. It is
printed apparently in the same type with the preceding part of the
volume. The original _Book of the Consulate_, coupled with this
appendix, constitutes the work which has obtained general circulation in
Europe under the title of _The Consulate of the Sea_, and which in the
course of the 16th century was translated into the Castilian, the
Italian, and the French languages. The Italian translation, printed at
Venice in 1549 by Jean Baptista Pedrezano, was the version which
obtained the largest circulation in the north of Europe, and led many
jurists to suppose the work to have been of Italian origin. In the next
following century the work was translated into Dutch by Westerven, and
into German by Engelbrecht, and it is also said to have been translated
into Latin.

An excellent translation into French of "The Customs of the Sea,"
which are the most valuable portion of the _Book of the Consulate_,
was published by Pardessus in the second volume of his _Collection
des lois maritimes_ (Paris, 1834), under the title of "La Compilation
connue sous le nom de consulat de la mer." See introduction, by Sir
Travers Twiss, to the _Black Book of the Admiralty_ (London, 1874),
which in the appendix to vol. iii. contains his tra