FAIR. In popular speech markets and fairs are associated. Coke says that every fair is a market, but not every market is a fair, and in terms that a fair is but a great sort of market. Al though this is not admitted by all as historically true, it has be come true in English legal theory. The word "fair" is indeed rather loosely used. It may mean no more than a periodical mar ket which attracts more custom than usual, as where a town has a weekly market and designates the first market of the month a fair. The word is also used in modern speech for various private auction marts, which have no characteristic of a true market, and for certain small periodical markets confined to one commodity. But its best use is that which Coke ascribes to it. Fairs, in this sense, are of immemorial antiquity. They appear early in the dirk ages on the Continent. Sidonius Apollinaris speaks of the fairs of Champagne and Brie in 427. They were common in the Low Countries by the loth century. After the Conquest they multi plied in England, when foreign merchants were regularly passing to and fro under the protection of Norman and Angevin kings. The origin of some is lost, and few are modern; in modern times the machinery for establishing them on a legal footing is, in most European countries, similar to that for establishing a market (see MARKET). In England this is by charter or by act of parliament, but the general statutes under which any local authority may ac quire (or, subject to its not infringing existing rights, may estab lish) a market do not extend to fairs, and therefore, where a fair is in the hands of a local authority in England it must be by charter or by special act. While a fair is thus more difficult (in England) than a market to establish on a legal footing, it is easier to abolish. In fact, the Fairs Acts, 1868-71, provide ma chinery for the secretary of State to extinguish fairs which have outlived their utility. Owen's Book of Fairs, first published under George II. and again (after intermediate editions) in 1856, gives a list covering 62 pages of small print, but a number of these have passed into oblivion, even without formal abolition. This reflects the fact that, while markets have still a useful func tion, the commercial value of fairs has largely disappeared (in western Europe) with improved communications and the other changes wrought in modern trade. Thus, a fair held at Much Wenlock under a charter of Edward IV. was allowed to lapse in 1926, and a once important horse fair at Whittlesey attracted two entries only—the reason being that with improved methods of transport available at all times it is not worth while to collect a great assemblage once or twice a year. There are still commercial fairs of some local importance, noted in a recent report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, but it may be doubted how long these will last, and it is certain that the day of the famous international fairs such as used to be held in Champagne, at Beau caire and at Stourbridge (chartered by King John in 1 21 1) is over in the west.
One important function which attached to many fairs—that of a "labour exchange," where servants, especially agricultural and domestic, were hired for a year—has disappeared in most coun tries, now that hirings are effected for shorter periods.
Pleasure Fairs.—The "pleasure fair" existed from early times side by side with the fair which was a "great market." Bartholo mew Fair, held in London in August, had been granted by Henry II. to Rahere as a fair of the old style, but by the 17th century had become almost entirely a pleasure fair—of which, indeed, it became recognized as the type. Often the business and the pleas ure fair were mixed, but in the i9th century many of those which still survived tended to be solely for pleasure, and even these lost much of their prestige with the coming of other popular amuse ments. St. Giles' Fair at Oxford and the "Mop" at Stratford-on Avon are among those known throughout the English-speaking world which have succeeded in surviving for generations after Bartholomew Fair was abolished in In France and Belgium "pleasure fairs" are numerous. The French Revolution swept away a number which possessed a long history, and the commercial fair has suffered reduction in im portance, as in England. But even Paris retains numerous pleasure fairs, some of which last for weeks, and they are found on a smaller scale in most provincial towns and villages. Often the fair is associated with a saint's day, the festival of the saint to whom the local church is dedicated. In Brittany and Flanders the word is "kirmiss." or "Church mass," which, like the German use of "messen" in the same sense, keeps alive an association which has led some writers to believe that fairs as an institution had a re ligious origin. The true origin of the fair as known to-day is a moot point, but it is certain that the institution of periodical great markets is older than the Christian era; indeed, as markets have been shown to arise at a certain point in the development of human institutions, so it is natural that, yearly or half-yearly (or it may be every four years, as at the Olympic Games), some specially important gathering should be held, attracting merchants from a wider area. Such a gathering would, in primitive society, pagan or Christian as the case might be, inevitably be placed under protection of the gods or saints, whose prestige would secure safe conduct for those attending.
In eastern Europe and in Asia the causes which have led to the decline of fairs in the west have so far been less operative. Thus India preserves the fair at Hurdwar, where the Ganges leaves the mountains; a natural pilgrim centre which has in consequence ac quired a fair, attracting many others than Hindus. It will be long before the "westernization" of India will have made such fairs unnecessary, and probably the same may be said of Russia, which has several fairs of international fame. The best known is that of Nijni Novgorod, founded in the i 7th century. Before the World War it was calculated that more than 100,000 persons annually attended it from Asia and from Europe, and it is of interest to find it described in an official Russian publication of 1923 as "an out standing fact in the Soviet economic scheme." The total value of transactions registered in the fair in that year was 378 million gold roubles, and these registered transactions excluded all private sales and those of less value than 1,000 gold roubles.
(A. N. C. S.) United States.—In contrast with typical European fairs, where trade features predominate, American fairs have served chiefly the function of agricultural education. In the show ring, on the track, and in crop and other exhibits, accepted standards of ex cellence have been gradually developed. In 1927, more than 2,000 agricultural fairs were held in the United States and Canada. These included national, regional, provincial, State, county and other expositions. The total attendance was over 40,000,000. The best available data, which, however, are quite incomplete, show premiums paid to the amount of $8,400,714. Each of 14 fairs on the North American continent pays out annually $50,000 or more for prizes, exclusive of purses, and in five the prize money totals $100,000 or more each. Each of 16 fairs owns grounds and buildings worth more than $1,000,000. Almost all American fairs continue for a week, though some last as long as two weeks. Ex hibits are made by national, provincial and State governments, as well as by organizations and individuals. In recent years judging contests participated in by boys and girls and by college students have been attractions. (R. T. H.)