Marché ouvert

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marché ouvert (Law French for "open market") or market overt was a medieval English legal concept related to subsequent ownership of stolen goods.[1]

In general, the sale of stolen goods does not convey effective title. However under 'marché ouvert', if goods were openly sold in designated markets between sunrise and sunset, provenance could not be questioned and effective title of ownership obtained.[2][3] 'Marché ouvert' was abolished in 1995 by the Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1994.[4]

One designated market was Bermondsey Market in south London, explaining its 4am opening hour and unsavoury reputation. The most famous case of stolen goods sold there was in the early 1990s when several portraits by well-known 18th Century portrait painters, stolen from Lincoln's Inn each sold for less than £100 from an outside stall. Since they had been sold in 'market overt', the purchaser was able to keep them.[5][6] To quote Minister for the Arts Estelle Morris in July 2003 during the Second Reading of the Dealing In Cultural Objects (Offences) Bill:

I did not have information about marché ouvert in the deep recesses of my mind, but experts reliably inform me that it no longer exists. The hon. Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Randall) will be surprised to learn that it has been abolished only recently. It used to exist in designated markets, including Bermondsey. I am sure that the promoter will be interested in telling the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) about that. In it, items could be sold before sunrise. Believe it or not, in this land of ours, people could sell stolen—my officials put "dodgy" in brackets, but we do not use that term—objects. I assure hon. Members that it has been abolished. I hope that that deals with the fears of the hon. Member for Uxbridge.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ “Memorandum submitted by the Council for the Prevention of Art Theft”, Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, London: www.parliament.gov.uk, 2000, pp. section 3.1, <http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmcumeds/371/371ap72.htm> 
  2. ^ O'Connell, Anna (October 2005). The Controversial Rule of Market Overt. Art Loss Review. Retrieved on 2007-08-31.
  3. ^ Lennon, Peter. "A safe little earner", Guardian, 2003-03-15. Retrieved on 2007-08-31. 
  4. ^ Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1994, London: HMSO, 1994, ISBN 0 10 543294 6, <http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1994/pdf/ukpga_19940032_en.pdf> 
  5. ^ Burroughs, Katrina. "In the market for a bargain", Evening Standard, 2001-05-30. Retrieved on 2007-08-31. 
  6. ^ "p. A9", Wall Street Journal, 1993-08-26. 
  7. ^ Columns 663,664, Hansard, 4 July 2003

[edit] Further reading

  • Bennett, Edmund H. (Sep 1882). "High Court of Justice. Queen's Bench Division. Walker v. Matthews". The American Law Register (1852-1891) 30 (9): pp. 574–576. doi:10.2307/3305040. 
  • Sale of Goods Act, 1893, London: HMSO, 1893, pp. section 22., ISBN 0 10 850177 9, <http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1977/PDF/ukpga_19770071_en.pdf> 
  • Pease, J. G. (May 1908). "The Change of the Property in Goods by Sale in Market Overt". Columbia Law Review 8 (5): pp. 375–383. doi:10.2307/1110070. 
  • "Sale of Goods. Market Overt. Custom of City of London. Shop. Auction Room. Trover. Demand and Refusal before Writ" (Apr 1912). The Virginia Law Register 17 (12): pp. 269. 
  • Ilbert, Courtenay (1920). "Unification of Commercial Law". Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law 2 (1): pp. 77–80. 
  • Waite, John Barker (Feb 1925). "Caveat Emptor and the Judicial Process". Columbia Law Review 25 (2): pp. 129–151. doi:10.2307/1114303. 
  • "Market Overt: Common Law, What Is" (Dec 1928). Michigan Law Review 27 (2): pp. 218. 
  • Gower, L. C. B. (Jul 1949). "Sale of Goods in Market Overt". The Modern Law Review 12 (3): pp. 371–372. 
  • Eder, Phanor J. (Winter 1956). "Venezuela. Conditional Sales". The American Journal of Comparative Law 5 (1): pp. 119–120. doi:10.2307/838145. 
  • Murray, Daniel E. (Jan 1960). "Sale in Market Overt". The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 9 (1): pp. 24–52. doi:10.1093/iclqaj/9.1.24. 
  • Belinfante, W. G.; J. G. van der Burgt (Oct 1960). "Sale in Market Overt". The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 9 (4): pp. 676–677. doi:10.1093/iclqaj/9.4.676. 
  • Diamond, Aubrey L. (Jul 1966). "Law Reform Committee: Twelfth Report on the Transfer of Title to Chattels". The Modern Law Review 29 (4): pp. 413–419. 
  • Levmore, Saul (Jan 1987). "Variety and Uniformity in the Treatment of the Good-Faith Purchaser". The Journal of Legal Studies 16 (1): pp. 43–65. doi:10.1086/467823. 
  • Battersby, Graham (Sep 1991). "The Sale of Stolen Goods: A Dilemma for the Law". The Modern Law Review 54 (5): pp. 752–757. 
  • Smith, Peter (Apr 1997). "Valediction to Market Overt". The American Journal of Legal History 41 (2): pp. 225–249. doi:10.2307/845597. 


 This law-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.