''Commercium'' is a legal term relating to ancient

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Jus ...

. The term refers to the general rule that the law of a community was for the members of that community only, and that the stranger was without rights. ''Commercium'' was the chief of the private rights, which Latin cities had originally not only with Rome but with each other. If a foreigner had no treaty to the contrary with the city in which he or she entered, that foreigner could be seized and enslaved then their goods could be taken as ''

bona vacantia Unowned property includes tangible, physical things that are capable of being reduced to being property owned by a person but are not owned by anyone. ' (Latin for "ownerless goods") is a legal concept associated with the unowned property, which e ...

'' (vacant goods, meaning things found without any apparent owner). Eventually a foreigner could rely upon the '' ius gentium'' (the right of the nations) in lieu of a treaty. Nevertheless, the bond of ''commercium'' meant more than this. It meant that the Latin was admitted to the Roman methods of acquiring property and of contracting obligations. In

Ulpian Ulpian (; la, Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus; c. 170223? 228?) was a Roman jurist born in Tyre. He was considered one of the great legal authorities of his time and was one of the five jurists upon whom decisions were to be based according t ...

's words: "''Commercium est emendi vendendique invicem ius''" (Commerce is the right of buying and selling with each other) does not quite get across the actual definition of the right of ''commercium'', therefore it must be taken as giving only a rough description of the term. ''Commercium'' Latin Language, noun. I. Proper sense, ''commercial intercourse, trade, traffic, commerce'': II. Metonomy, A. ''The right to trade, mercantile intercourse, privilege of traffic'': B. In General, ''intercourse, communication, correspondence'': III. Figuratively, ''connection, correspondence, communion, fellowship'':.

See also

References