Engrossing

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In English common law of the nineteenth century engrossing, forestalling and regrating were three terms used to describe the achievement of an illegal monopoly of a certain good, often food, at market. The terms are no longer in use.

Forestalling specifically refered to the practice of intercepting sellers on their way to a market, buying up their stock, then taking it to the market and sharply marking it up. In plain terms it meant to put one stall in front of another, blocking them.

In modern usage, forestalling is to take action in anticipation of action by another, thus preventing it by depriving them of the opportunity [1].

[edit] External links

• Statuta de Forstallariis (Statute of Forestallers), c. 1300
• Medieval English Towns - Glossary

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.