Case Study: The Case of Mixt Monies
Chapter in book, D Fox and W Ernst (eds), Money in the Western Legal Tradition: Middle Ages to Bretton Woods (Oxford University Press, 2015 Forthcoming)
University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 70/2014
31 Pages Posted: 18 Dec 2014
Date Written: December 1, 2014
Abstract
This chapter considers the intellectual pedigree of the decision of the English Privy Council in Gilbert v Brett (1604), commonly known as the Case of Mixt Monies. It is the only reported common law decision which considers squarely how the debasement of a commodity currency should affect the performance of a monetary obligation. The chapter builds on the author’s previous published work on the Case by considering how the works of the European ius commune and English canon law which were manipulated in the Case in order to justify a common law rule of monetary nominalism.
Keywords: Legal history, Monetary law, Law of obligations
JEL Classification: K1, K11, K19
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation