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The Consulate of the Sea (; ) was a
quasi-judicial body A quasi-judicial body is a non-judicial body which can interpret law. It is an entity such as an arbitration panel or tribunal board, which can be a public administrative agency (not part of the judicial branch of government) but also a contra ...
set up in the
Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
, later to spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, to administer maritime and
commercial law Commercial law (or business law), which is also known by other names such as mercantile law or trade law depending on jurisdiction; is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of Legal person, persons and organizations ...
. The term may also refer to a celebrated collection of maritime customs and ordinances in
Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...
, also known in English as ''The Customs of the Sea'', compiled over the 14th and 15th centuries and published at
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
in or before 1494. In the 21st century, the Catalan term ''Consolat de mar'' is today used for a commercial
arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...
service operated by the Barcelona
Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...
, and also for a series of trade-promotion offices operated by the city of Barcelona.


Medieval institution

The Catalan institution can be traced to the grant of the ''Carta Consular'' to the city of Barcelona by Jaume I of Aragon in 1258.Art. 21
Barcelona Maritime Code of 1258
This gave Barcelona merchants the right to settle their commercial disputes without interference from the royal courts: in return, the king received much needed financial support for his wars of expansion. Mercantile Law (''ius mercadorium'') was becoming established at the same time through much of Europe, and similar bodies had already been established in
Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...
(first third of the 13th century) and
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
(1250).Moliné y Brasés (1914). As the territories of the
Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
expanded, it was customary to establish new Consulates of the Sea in the major ports. One of the earliest was in
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
(1283), where the charter of
Peter III of Aragon Peter III of Aragon (In Aragonese, ''Pero''; in Catalan, ''Pere''; in Italian, ''Pietro''; November 1285) was King of Aragon, King of Valencia (as ), and Count of Barcelona (as ) from 1276 to his death. At the invitation of some rebels, he con ...
makes it clear that disputes are to be settled "according to maritime customs, as these are accepted in Barcelona."


''Book of the Consulate of the Sea''

The full title in Catalan is ''Les costums marítimes de Barcelona universalment conegudes per Llibre del Consolat de mar'', or "''The maritime customs of Barcelona universally known as the Book of the Consulate of the Sea''". The earliest extant printed edition of the work (Barcelona, 1494) is without a title-page or frontispiece, but it is described by the above-mentioned title in the epistle dedicatory prefixed to the table of contents. The only known copy of this edition () is preserved in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.Jados (1975). The epistle dedicatory states that the work is an amended version of the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'', compiled by Francis Celelles with the assistance of numerous shipmasters and
merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
s well versed in maritime affairs. According to a statement made by Capmany in his ''Codigo de los costumbras maritimas de Barcelona'', published at
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in 1791, there was extant to his knowledge an older edition, printed in semi-Gothic characters, which he believed to be of a date prior to 1484. There are, however, two Catalan manuscripts preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the earliest of which, being ''MS. Espagnol 124'', contains the two first treatises which are printed in the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' of 1494, and which are the most ancient portion of its contents, written in a hand of the 14th century, on paper of that century. The subsequent parts of this manuscript are on paper of the 15th century, but there is no document of a date more recent than 1436. The later of the two manuscripts, being ''MS. Espagnol 56'', is written throughout on paper of the 15th century, and in a hand of that century, and it purports, from a certificate on the face of the last leaf, to have been executed under the superintendence of Peter Thomas, a
notary public A notary public ( notary or public notary; notaries public) of the common law is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with general financial transactions, estates, deeds, powers- ...
, and the scribe of the Consulate of the Sea at Barcelona. The edition of 1494 contains, in the first place, a code of procedure issued by the kings of
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
for the guidance of the courts of the consuls of the sea, in the second place, a collection of ancient customs of the sea, and thirdly, a body of rules for the government of cruisers of war. A colophon at the end of these ordinances informs the reader that the book commonly called the ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'' ends here; after which there follows 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 1075, and by various princes and peoples in the 12th and 13th centuries: this is generally regarded as of no historical value. 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 14 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 1271 to 1493. It is printed apparently in the same type with the preceding part of the volume. The original ''Book of the Consulate of the Sea'', coupled with this appendix, circulated in Europe under the title, ''The Consulate of the Sea'', and in the 16th century was translated into the Castilian, the Italian, and the French languages. The Italian translation, printed at Venice c. 1549 by
Jean Baptista Pedrezano Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...
, was the version that 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 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 Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. 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 do 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 translation of ''The Customs of the Sea'', with the Catalan text.


References


''Consulate of the Sea and Related Documents''.
Translated by Stanley S. Jados (1975). University of Alabama Press.

Edited by Ernest Moliné y Brasés (1914). Barcelona: Henrich. *
"De la favor de les causes mercantivols."
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...
of the Corts de Catalunya, Montsó, 1510.


External links

{{Commons category-inline, Consolat de Mar
Consolat de Mar Conflict Resolution Centre
Law of the sea Catalan language History of Valencia Principality of Catalonia Crown of Aragon Spanish Empire Quasi-judicial bodies Catalan law Legal history of Spain fr:Lonja de la seda#Salle du Consulat de Mer