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FAIR

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 129 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FAIR , a commercial institution, defined as a " greater See also:

species of See also:market recurring at more distant intervals ": both "fair" and " market " (q.v.) have been distinguished by See also:Lord See also:Coke from "mart," which he considers as a greater species of fair; and all three may be defined as periodic gatherings of buyers and sellers in an appointed See also:place, subject to See also:special regulation by See also:law or See also:custom. Thus in See also:England from a strictly legal point of view there can be no fair or market without a See also:franchise; and a franchise of fair or market can only be exercised by right of a See also:grant from the See also:crown, or by the authority of See also:parliament or by See also:prescription presupposing a grant. In the earliest times periodical trading in special localities was necessitated by the difficulties of communication and the dangers of travel. Public gatherings, whether religious, military or judicial, which brought together widely scattered populations, were utilized as opportunities for See also:commerce. At the festivals of See also:Delos and at the Olympic See also:games See also:trade, it is said, found important outlets, while in See also:Etruria the See also:annual See also:general See also:assembly at the See also:temple of Voltumna served at the same See also:time as a fair and was regularly attended by See also:Roman traders. Instances of a similar nature might be multiplied; but it was above all with religious festivals which recurred with regularity and convoked large See also:numbers of persons that fairs, as distinguished from markets, are most intimately associated. The most commonly accepted derivation of the word "fair" is from the Latin feria, a name which the See also:church borrowed from Roman custom and applied to her own festivals. A fair was generally held during the See also:period of a See also:saint's feast and in the precincts of his church or See also:abbey, but in England this desecration of church or See also:churchyard was first forbidden by the See also:Statute of Winton (c. See also:Edward I.). Most of the famous fairs of See also:medieval England and See also:Europe, with their tolls or other revenues, and, within certain limits of time and place, their See also:monopoly of trade, were grants from the See also:sovereign to abbots, bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries. Their "See also:holy See also:day" associations are preserved in the See also:German word for fairs, Messen; as also in the kirmiss. " church See also:mass," of the See also:people of See also:Brittany.

So very intimate was the connexion between the fair and the feast of the saint that the former has very commonly been regarded as an off-shoot or development of the latter. But there is every See also:

reason to suppose that fairs were already existing See also:national institutions, See also:long before the church turned or was privileged to turn them to her own profit. The first See also:charter of the See also:great fair of See also:Stourbridge, near See also:Cambridge, was granted by See also:King See also:John for the See also:maintenance of a leper See also:hospital; but the origin of the fair itself is ascribed to See also:Carausius, the See also:rebel See also:emperor of See also:Britain, A.D. 207. At all events, it may be seen from the data given in See also:Herbert See also:Spencer's Descriptive See also:Sociology that the See also:country had then arrived at the See also:stage of development where fairs might have been recognized as a See also:necessity. The See also:Romans also appear to have elaborated a market-law similar to that in force throughout medieval Europe —though it must be observed that the Roman nundinae, which some have regarded as fairs, were weekly markets. It has also been supposed that the See also:ancient fairs of See also:Lyons were a special See also:privilege granted by the Roman conquerors; and Sidonius See also:Apollinaris, A.D. 427, alludes to the fairs of the See also:district afterwards known as the See also:county of See also:Champagne, as if they were then familiarly known institutions. Fairs, in a word, would not only have arisen naturally, wherever the means of communication between individual centres of See also:production and See also:consumption were See also:felt to be inadequate to the demand for an interchange of commodities; but, from their very nature, they might be expected to showsome essential resemblances, even in points of legislation, and where no See also:international transmission of custom could have been possible. Thus, the fair courts of pre-See also:Spanish See also:Mexico corresponded very closely to those of the See also:Beaucaire fair. They resembled the See also:English courts of piepowder. The Spaniards, when first they saw the Mexican fairs, were reminded of the like institutions in See also:Salamanca and See also:Granada.

The great fair or market at the See also:

city of Mexico is said to have been attended by about 40,000 or 50,000 persons, and is thus described by See also:Prescott: " See also:Officers patrolled the square, whose business it was to keep the See also:peace, to collect the dues imposed on the various kinds of merchandise, to see that no false See also:measures or See also:fraud of any See also:kind were used, and to bring offenders at once to See also:justice. A See also:court of twelve See also:judges sat in one See also:part of the tianguez clothed with those ample and See also:summary See also:powers which, in despotic countries, are often delegated even to See also:petty tribunals. The extreme severity with which they exercised those powers, in more than one instance, proves that they were not a dead See also:letter." But notwithstanding the great antiquity of fairs, their charters are comparatively modern—the See also:oldest known being that of St Denys, See also:Paris, which Dagobert, king of the See also:Franks, granted (A.D. 642) to the monks of the place " for the See also:glory of See also:God, and the See also:honour of St Denys at his festival." In England it was only after the See also:Norman See also:conquest that fairs became of See also:capital importance. Records exist of 2800 grants of franchise markets and fairs between the years 1199 and 1483. More than See also:half of these were made during the reigns of John and See also:Henry III., when the See also:power of the church was in ascendancy. The first recorded grant, however, appears to be that of See also:William the Conqueror to the See also:bishop of See also:Winchester, for leave to hold an annual " See also:free fair " at St See also:Giles's See also:hill. The See also:monk who had been the king's See also:jester received his charter of See also:Bartholomew fair, Smithfield, in the See also:year 1133. And in 1248 Henry III. granted a like privilege to the See also:abbot of See also:Westminster, in honour of the " See also:translation " of Edward the See also:Confessor. Sometimes fairs were granted to towns as a means for enabling them to recover from the effects of See also:war and other disasters. Thus, Edward III. granted a " free fair " to the See also:town of See also:Burnley in See also:Rutland, just as, in subsequent times, See also:Charles VII. favoured See also:Bordeaux after the English See also:wars, and See also:Louis XIV. gave fair charters to the towns of See also:Dieppe and See also:Toulon. The importance attached to these old fairs may be understood from the inducements which, in the 14th See also:century, Charles IV. held out to traders visiting the great fair of See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Main.

The charter declared that both during the continuance of the fair, and for eighteen days before and after it, merchants would be exempt from imperial See also:

taxation, from See also:arrest for See also:debt, or See also:civil See also:process of any sort, except such as might arise from the transactions of the market itself and within its precincts. See also:Philip of See also:Valois's regulations for the fairs of See also:Troyes in Champagne might not only be accepted as typical of all subsequent fair-legislation of the See also:kingdom, but even of the English and German See also:laws on the subject. The fair had its See also:staff of notaries for the See also:attestation of bargains, its court of justice, its See also:police officers, its sergeants for the See also:execution of the market judges' decrees, and its visitors—of whom we may mention the prud'hommes,—whose See also:duty it was to examine the quality of goods exposed for See also:sale, and to confiscate those found unfit for consumption. The See also:confiscation required the consent of five or six representatives of the See also:merchant community at the fair. The effect of these great " free fairs " of England and the See also:continent on the development of society was indeed great. They helped to familiarize the western and See also:northern countries with the banking an$ See also:financial systems of the See also:Lombards and Florentines, who resorted to them under the See also:protection of the sovereign's " See also:firm peace," and the ghostly terrors of the See also:pope. They usually became the seat of See also:foreign agencies. In the names of her streets See also:Provins preserved the memory of her 12th-century intercourse with the agents and merchants of See also:Germany and the See also:Low Countries, and long before that time the Syrian traders at St Denys had established their powerful association in Paris. Like the church on the religious See also:side, the free fairs on the commercial side evoked and cherished the international spirit. And during long ages, when commercial " protection " was regarded as indispensable to a nation's See also:wealth, and the merchant was compelled to " fight his way through a See also:wilderness of taxes," they were the See also:sole and, so far as they went, the See also:complete substitute for the free trade of later days. Their privileges, however, were, from their very nature, destined to grow more oppressive and intolerable the more the towns were multiplied and the means of communication increased. The people of See also:London were compelled to See also:close their shops during the days when the abbot of Westminster's fair was open.

But a more curious and complete instance of such an ecclesiastical monopoly was that of the St Giles's fair, at first granted for the customary three days, which were increased by Henry III. to sixteen. The bishop of Winchester was, as we have seen, the lord of this fair. On the See also:

eve of St Giles's feast the magistrates of Winchester surrendered the keys of the city See also:gates to the bishop, who then appointed his own See also:mayor', See also:bailiff and See also:coroner, to hold See also:office until the close of the fair. During the same period, Winchester and See also:Southampton also—though it was then a thriving trading town—were forbidden to transact their See also:ordinary commercial. business, except within the bishop's fair, or with his special permission. The bishop's officers were posted along the highways, with power to forfeit to his lordship all goods bought and sold within 7 M. of the fair—in whose centre stood " the See also:pavilion," or bishop's court. It is clear, from the curious See also:record of the See also:Establishment and Expenses of the See also:Household of See also:Percy, 5th See also:earl of See also:Northumberland, that fairs were the See also:chief centres of country See also:traffic even as See also:late as the 16th century. They began to decline rapidly after 1759, when See also:good roads had been constructed and See also:canal communication established between See also:Liver-See also:pool and the towns of See also:Yorkshire, See also:Cheshire and See also:Lancashire. In the great towns their extinction was hastened in consequence of their evil effects on public morals. All the London fairs were abolished as public nuisances before 1855—the last year of the ever famous fair of St Bartholomew; and the fairs of Paris were swept away in the See also:storm of the Revolution. English Fairs and Markets.—For the general reasons apparent from the preceding See also:sketch, fairs in England, as in See also:France and Germany, have very largely given way to markets for specialities. Even the live-stock market of the See also:metropolis is being superseded by the dead-See also:meat market, a See also:change which has been encouraged by See also:modern legislation on See also:cattle disease, the movements of See also:home stock and the importation of foreign animals. Agricultural markets are also disappearing before the " agencies " and the See also:corn exchanges in the See also:principal towns.

Still there are some considerable fairs yet remaining. Of the English fairs for live stock, those of Weyhill in See also:

Hampshire (See also:October to), St Faith's, near See also:Norwich (October 17), as also several held at See also:Devizes, See also:Wiltshire, are among the largest in the kingdom. The first named stands next to none for its display of See also:sheep. Horncastle, See also:Lincoln-See also:shire, is the largest See also:horse fair in the kingdom, and is regularly visited by See also:American and See also:continental dealers. The other leading horse fairs in England are Howden in Yorkshire (well known for its hunters) ,See also:Woodbridge (on See also:Lady Day) for See also:Suffolk horses, See also:Barnet, in See also:Hertfordshire, and Lincoln. See also:Exeter See also:December fair has a large display of cattle, horses and most kinds of commodities. Large numbers of Scotch cattle are also brought to the fairs of See also:Carlisle and See also:Ormskirk. See also:Nottingham has a fair for geese. See also:Ipswich has a fair for See also:lambs on the 1st of See also:August, and for See also:butter and See also:cheese on the 1st of See also:September. See also:Gloucester fair is also famous for the last-named commodity. See also:Falkirk fair, or tryst, for cattle and sheep, is one of the largest in See also:Scotland; and See also:Ballinasloe, See also:Galway, holds a like position among Irish fairs. The Ballinasloe cattle are usually fed for a year in See also:Leinster before they are considered See also:fit for the See also:Dublin or See also:Liverpool markets.

See also:

French Fairs.—In France fairs and markets are held under the authority of the prefects, new fairs and markets being established by See also:order of the prefects at the instance of the See also:commune interested. Before the Revolution fairs and markets could only be established by seigneurs justiciers, but only two small markets have survived the law of 1790 abolishing private ownership of market rights, namely, the See also:Marche Ste See also:Catherine and the Marche See also:des enfants rouges, both in Paris. Under the See also:present systemmarkets and fairs are held in most of the towns and villages in France; and at all such gatherings entertainments See also:form an important feature. The great fair of Beaucaire instituted in 1168) has steadily declined since the opening of railway communication, and now ranks with the fairs of ordinary provincial towns. Situated at the junction of the See also:Rhone and the Canal du Midi, and less than 40 M. from the See also:sea, it at one time attracted merchants from See also:Spain, from See also:Switzerland and Germany, and from the See also:Levant and Mediterranean ports, and formed one of the greatest temporary centres of commerce on the continent. One trade firm alone, it is said, rarely did less than 1,00o,000 francs See also:worth of business during the fortnight that the fair lasted. German Fairs.—In Germany the police authorities are considered the market authorities, and to them in most cases is assigned the duty of establishing new fairs and markets, subject to magisterial decision. The three great fairs of Germany are those of Frankfort-on-Main, Frankfort-on-See also:Oder and See also:Leipzig, but, like all the large fairs of Europe, they have declined rapidly in importance. Those of Frankfort-on-Main begin on See also:Easter Tuesday and on the nearest See also:Monday to September 8 respectively, and their legal duration is three See also:weeks, though the limit is regularly extended. The fairs of the second-named city are,Reminiscere, See also:February or See also:March; St See also:Margaret, See also:July; St See also:Martin, See also:November. Ordinarily they last fifteen days, which is See also:double the legal See also:term. The greatest of the German fairs are those of Leipzig, whose display of books is famous all over the See also:world.

Its three fairs are dated See also:

January 1, Easter, Michaelmas. The Easter one is the See also:book fair, which is attended by all the principal booksellers of Germany, and by many more from the adjoining countries. Most German publishers have agents at Leipzig. As many as 5000 new publications have been entered in a single Leipzig See also:catalogue. As in the other instances given, the Leipzig fairs last for three weeks, or nearly thrice their allotted duration. Here no days of See also:grace are allowed, and the holder of a See also:bill must demand See also:payment when due, and protest, if necessary, on the same day, otherwise he cannot proceed against either drawer or endorser. See also:Russian Fairs.—In See also:Russia fairs are held by See also:local authorities. Landed proprietors may also hold fairs on their estates subject to the See also:sanction of the local authorities; but no private tolls may be levied on commodities brought to such fairs. In See also:Siberia and the See also:east of Russia, where more See also:primitive conditions See also:foster such centres of trade, fairs are still of considerable importance. Throughout Russia generally they are very numerous. The most important, that of Nijni See also:Novgorod, held annually in July and August at the confluence of the See also:rivers See also:Volga and See also:Kama, was instituted in the 17th century by the See also:tsar See also:Michael Fedorovitch. In 1881 it was calculated that trade to the value of 246,000,000 roubles was carried on within the limits of the fair.

It still continues to be of great commercial importance, and is usually attended by upwards of See also:

ioo,000 persons from all parts of See also:Asia and eastern Europe. Other fairs of consequence are those of See also:Irbit in See also:Perm, Kharkoff (January and August), See also:Poltava (August and February), Koreunais in Koursk, Ourloupinsknia in the See also:Don Cossack country, Krolevetz in Tchernigoff, and a third fair held at Poltava on the feast of the See also:Ascension. See also:Indian Fairs.—The largest of these, and perhaps the largest in Asia, is that of Hurdwar, on the upper course of the See also:Ganges. The visitors to this holy fair number from 200,000 to 300,000; but every twelfth year there occurs a special See also:pilgrimage to the sacred See also:river, when the numbers may amount to a million or upwards. Those who go solely for the purposes of trade are Nepalese, Mongolians, Tibetans, central Asiatics and See also:Mahommedan pedlars from the See also:Punjab, See also:Sind and the border states. See also:Persian shawls and carpets, Indian silks, See also:Kashmir shawls, cottons (Indian and English), preserved fruits, spices, drugs, &c., together with immense numbers of cattle, horses, sheep and camels, are brought to this famous fair. - American Fairs.—The word " fair," as now used in the See also:United States, appears to have completely lost its Old World meaning. It seems to be exclusively applied to See also:industrial exhibitions and to what in England are called See also:fancy bazaars. Thus, during the Civil War, large sums were collected at the " sanitary fairs," for the benefit of the sick and wounded. To the first-named class belong the See also:state and county fairs, as they are called. Among the first and best-known of these was the " New See also:York World's Fair," opened in 1853 by a See also:company formed in 1851. (See See also:EXHIBITION.) Law of Fairs.—As no market or fair can he held in England without a royal charter, or right of prescription, 'so any See also:person establishing a fair without such sanction is liable to be sued under a See also:writ of Quo warranto, by any one to whose See also:property the said market may be injurious.

Nor can a fair or market be legally held beyond the time specified in the grant; and by 5 Edward III. c. 5 (1331) a merchant selling goods after the legal expiry of the fair forfeited double their value. To be valid, a sale must take place in " market-overt " (open market) ; " it will not be binding if it carries with it a presumption of fraudulence." These regulations satisfied, the sale " transfers a complete property in the thing sold to the See also:

vendee; so that however injurious or illegal the See also:title of the vendor may be, yet the vendee's is good against all men except the king." (In Scottish law, the claims of the real owner would still remain valid.) However, by 21 Henry VIII. c. 2 (1529) it was enacted that, " if any felon rob or take away See also:money, goods, or chattels, and be indicted and found guilty, or otherwise attainted upon See also:evidence given by the owner or party robbed, or by any other by their procurement, the owner or party robbed shall be restored to his money, goods or chattels," but only those goods were restored which were specified in the See also:indictment, now could the owner recover from a See also:bona fide purchaser in market-overt who had sold the goods before conviction. For obvious reasons the rules of market-overt were made particularly stringent in the See also:case of horses. Thus, by 2 Philip & See also:Mary c. 7 (1555) and 31 Eliz. c. 12 (1589) no sale of a horse was legal which had not satisfied the following conditions Public exposure of the See also:animal for at least an See also:hour between sunrise and sunset; See also:identification of the vendor by the market officer, or See also:guarantee for his honesty by " one sufficient and credible person "; entry of these particulars, together with a description of the animal, and a statement of the See also:price paid for it, in the market officer's book. Even if his rights should have been violated in spite of all these precautions, the lawful owner could recover, if he claimed within six months, produced witnesses, and tendered the price paid to the vendor: Tolls were not a " necessary incident " of a fair- i.e. they were illegal unless specially granted In the patent. or recognized by custom. As a See also:rule, they were paid only by the vendee, and to the market clerk, whose record of the payment was all attestation to the genuineness of the See also:purchase. By 2 & 3 Philip & Mary c. 7 every lord of a fair entitled to exact tolls was See also:bound to appoint a clerk to collect and enter them.

It was also this functionary's business to test measures and weights. Tolls, again, are sometimes held to include " stallage " and " picage," which mean respectively the price for permission to erect stalls and to dig holes for posts in the market grounds. But See also:

toll proper belongs to the lord of the market, whereas the other two are usually regarded as the property of the lord of the See also:soil. The law also provided that stallage m1ght be levied on any See also:house situated in the vicinity of a market, and kept open for business during the legal term of the said market. Among modern statutes, one of the chief is the Markets and Fairs Clauses See also:Act 1847, the chief purpose of which was to consolidate previous measures. By the act no proprietors of a new market were permitted to-let stallages, take tolls, or in any way open their ground for business, until two justices of the peace certified to the completion of the fair or market. After the opening of the place for public use, no person other than a licensed See also:hawker may sell anywhere within the See also:borough, his own house or See also:shop excepted, any articles in respect of which tolls are legally exigible in the market. A See also:breach of this See also:provision entails a See also:penalty of See also:forty shillings. Vendors of unwholesome meat are liable to a penalty of 5 for each offence; and the "inspectors of provisions " have full See also:liberty to seize the goods and See also:institute proceedings against the owners. They may also enter " at all times of the day, with or without assistance, ' the slaughter-house which the undertaker of the market may, by the special act, have been empowered to construct. For general sanitary reasons, persons are prohibited from killing animals anywhere except in these slaughter-houses. Again, by the Fairs Act 1873, times of holding fairs are determined by the secretary of state; while the Fairs Act 1871 empowers him to abolish any fair on the See also:representation of the See also:magistrate and with the consent of the owner.

The See also:

preamble of the act states that many fairs held in England and See also:Wales are both unnecessary and productive of " grievous immorality." The Fair Courts.—The piepowder courts, the lowest but most expeditious courts of, justice in the kingdom, as See also:Chitty calls them, were very ancient. he Conqueror's See also:Jaw De Empoiiis shows their pre-existence in See also:Normandy. Their name was derived from pied poudreux, i. e." dusty-See also:foot. 1 The lord of the fair or his representative was the presiding See also:judge, and usually he was assisted by a See also:jury of traders chosen on the spot. Their See also:jurisdiction was limited by the legal time and precincts of the fair, and to disputes about ' In Med. See also:Lat. pede-pulverosus meant an itinerant merchant or pedlar. In Scots borough law " marchand travelland " and " dusty See also:fate " are identical. x. 5contracts, " See also:slander of wares," attestations, the preservation of order, &c. Authorities.—See Herbert Spencer's Descriptive Sociology (1873), especially the columns and paragraphs on " See also:Distribution ' ; Prescott's See also:History of Mexico, for descriptions of fairs under the See also:Aztecs; Giles See also:Jacob's Law See also:Dictionary (London, 1809) ; See also:Joseph Chitty's See also:Treatise on the Law of Commerce and Manufactures, vol. ii. See also:chap, 9 (London, 1824) ; See also:Holinshed's and See also:Grafton's See also:Chronicles, for lists, &c., of English fairs; See also:Meyer's Das See also:grosse Conversations-See also:Lexicon (1852), under " Messen "; See also:article " Foire " in Larousse's Dictionnaire universelle du XIXe siecle (Paris, 1866-1874), and its references to past authorities; and especially, the second See also:volume, commercial See also:series, of the Encyclopedia methods ue (Paris, 1783); M`Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce (1869-1871)); See also:Wharton's History of English See also:Poetry, pp. 185, 186 of edition of 1870 (London, See also:Murray & Son), for a description of the Winchester Fair, &c.; a See also:note by See also:Professor Henry See also:Morley in p. 498, vol. vii. Notes and Queries, second series; the same author's unique History of the Fair of St Bartholomew (London, 1859) ; Wharton's Law Lexicon (Will's edition, London, 1876) ; P.

Huvelin's Essai historique sur le See also:

droit des See also:marches et des foires (Paris, 1897); See also:Report of the Royal See also:Commission on Market Rights and Tolls, vols. i. (1889), xiv. (1891); Final Report (1891); Walford's Fairs, Past and Present (1883) ; The Law See also:relating to Markets and Fairs, by See also:Pease and Chitty (London, 1899). (J. MA.; Ev.

End of Article: FAIR

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