LAW MERCHANT. Originally, the body of rules governing the various communities of mer chants throughout Europe, and administered by piepowder courts (q.v.), staple courts, and merchants' courts (q.v.). The procedure of the law merchant as well as the substantive rule, differed widely from those of the early common law. Its courts were expeditious, seek ing not only to do justice, but to do it speedily. Judges for these tribunals were selected because of their knowledge of the law merchant, and were bound to administer that law, and not the common law of the land, nor the peculiar legal usages of the cities, towns, or boroughs where they sat. During the seventeenth century the courts which specially administered this body of law died out in England. and their jurisdiction was assumed by the common law and equity tri bunals of the realm. From this time to the acces sion of Lord Mansfield as Chief Justice, the term `law merchant' was employed in quite an indef inite sense. The common-law judges and juries were not versed in the legal usages of merchants. When mercantile controversies came before them, it was often necessary to call merchant witnesses to prove what the law merchant applicable to the particular case was, although at times the mercantile custom involved was so notorious that courts would take judicial notice of it.
The third period in the history of the law merchant in England embraces the latter half of the eighteenth century and most of the nine teenth. Lord conceived that the usages of merchants in all countries rested upon the same general principles, and that the law mer chant was a branch of the jus gentium, or law common to all nations. As Chief Justice he de voted his great energies to the development of a body of legal rules which should be based not on the common-law doctrines of England. but upon principles which commercial convenience, public policy, and the customs and usages of merchants had contributed to establish, with slight dif ferences, over all Europe. In the United States his work was carried forward by Chancellor Kent, Justice Story. and others. As a result of the movement the law merchant and the common law are no longer distinct and separate bodies of legal rules. To a large extent they have be
come amalgamated, and are administered by all legal tribunals as a single system. At the pres ent time, therefore, `law merchant' does not desig nate a true body of law. as it did formerly, but is applied to various branches of English law, in which the old usages of merchants still survive to .a considerable extent. or which have sprung out of modern husiness needs and customs, such as agency, bailments, insurance, partnership. Consult the authorities cited under those titles; also: Smith, Compendium of Mercantile Lame, Macdonnell's Introduction (London, IS90 ) ; Serutton, The Elements of Mercantile Lair (Lon don. IS91) : Burdick. The Essentials of Business Law (New York. 1902) : "What is the Law Mer chant?" (2 Columbia Lam Review, 470. 1902) ; "The Early History of the Law in Eng land," xvii. Lair Quarterly llerieie, 232. 1901.
LAWN (older forms lau-nd, laund, OF. lande, launde, Fr. lande, heath, from Ir. land, OWelsh, Bret. harm, Corn. Ian, open space; ultimately con nected with Goth., As., Eng. land, OHG. hunt, Ger. Lund, laud). A smooth, even, well-kept turf or greensward, intended solely for ornament and pleasure. The hot and dry summers which frequently prevail in the United States are in jurious to grass; but as the lawn is usually lim ited in extent, this obstacle is overcome by con trolling the moisture conditions. Good velvety turf can be maintained in moderately dry cli mates, even in times of intense and prolonged heat and drought by daily supplying the neces sary moisture. In no instance is the condition of the soil a more important factor than in lawn making. The hest soil for this purpose is a sandy loam of fine texture with a clay subsoil, the most favorable combination for either net seasons or times of drought. A clay soil bakes too readily, and an open sandy or gravelly soil is not sufficiently resistant of drought. Before the soil is prepared to receive the grass-seed. it is drained if it has inadequate natural drainage, and then graded to give it the desired contour. The ordinary dooryard lawn is usually level. but the extensive lawns of parks combine in their contour the level, the convex, and the concave, gracefully merging into each other.