Why We Need a History of Collateral Rights: the Example of Antwerp (15th-16th Century)

The Antwerp case demonstrates that rules of commercial law were

crafted in response to diverse and connected phenomena. Lawmakers

took into account the needs and demands of merchants, but also strife

among groups of professionals and city leaders was responsible for legal

change. The legal regime concerning collateral rights proved a challenge

for the Antwerp administrators. Le Marchand was right in saying that

in Antwerp the dowry was at one point considered a superpriority, but

this was only during the period 1523-1530. Yet, in spite of this, Le

Marchand’s analysis as pointing to collateral rights as crucial features

of municipal legal constellations can be taken on as an invitation to

analyse collateral rights and priority of debts as a fundamental part of

the political economy of late-medieval and early modern cities of trade.

For that purpose, the perspective must be broad, with an eye on the

interactions between di"erent arrangements and proceedings.