| | I took a recent interest in the Great Medieval Fairs. I have about a dozen coins from Champaigne/Troyes -- whence the "troy" ounce. I have been collecting essays, bibliographies, etc. This is a long-term project for me.
I read about these "merchant courts" in Uncle Sam: the Monopoly Man way back in the 1970s. We all know about arbitration. We all know about private security. (Private security provides more dollar value protection than the city police. There are more guards in uniform than cops. We do not have television shows about guards and arbitrators, but rather about cops and lawyers.) So, that is not new material to SOLOists. We know that non-governmental solutions are possible, that the market is superior to the state, etc., etc. Personally, I am an anarchist, myself. That said, a few points might be clarifed.
Called "pie powder" courts in the UK -- from pied poudre: dusty feet -- these are courts of first resort. Just as with arbitration and adjudication in the USA, the parties still have the option of going to the government court.
In the Middle Ages, in Champaign, four generations of counts made the place safe for merchants. The count arranged for some "civil engineering" of pavilion space, road maintenance, etc. One count paid ransoms when merchants were waylaid by other lords. So, this system of laissez faire agorism worked because there was force of arms behind it. The count let the merchants settle their own disputes for two reasons. First, it was not in his interest to get involved. Second -- and perhaps more to the point -- there was some previous dispute between the count and the bishop over court jurisdictions with the result that the titular authority withdrew, leaving a vacuum -- which the merchants filled on their own.
The point of that to me is that in absense of government, people pretty much figure things out for the best.
Finally, this thing with Champaign and Troyes may have a mystical origin. While the town of Troyes was someplace to be even in Celtic-Romanic times (Dark Ages), the town only became a bustling commercial center after Hugh of Champaign returned from the Holy Land Crusades. In addition tot he great fairs, Troyes also became a center of Jewish learning. See the biography of Rabbi Sholomo Itzak (RASHI). Make of that what you will, to me, it means that a fundamental requirement for a just society is an enlightened government.
The American Revolution led to the American Constitution because the people at the top had the right vision.
We Americans are prejudiced against monarchy, not without reason. In the science fiction quickie, Double Star, Robert Heinlein makes a case for it. Someone who serves for life, inheriting the life work of othes and passing his life's work on, has a very close interest in the success of those around him. We Americans condemn bad governmet as "tyranny" yet tryanny was specifically a mercantile invention. Tyrants of the 7th C BCE replaced heriditary rulers. Mercenary troops replaced family ties. This was at a time when philosophy replaced religion and trade replaced agriculture. Tyranny worked to everyone's advantage when the tyrant did a good job. He was a businessman who ran the business of the polis. The form of govrenment is mostly irrelevant. It all comes down to people, to individuals.
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