ABSTRACT In Lent Term 1668/9, John Vincent, a bencher of Gray’s Inn, gave a reading on the Merchants’ Assurances Act 1601 (43 Eliz. I, c.12). The notes of the law reporter, Joseph Keble, record this observance of the centuries-old tradition of readings, which was destined to expire within the next two decades. This paper situates Vincent’s reading within the changing tradition of readings in the seventeenth century. It highlights the role readings continued to play in disseminating sophisticated legal learning, particularly in relation to newer areas of practice such as marine insurance, which were largely uninformed by statute, common law precedent or reference works, and would have been difficult to master through book-study alone. It examines a selection of issues discussed during the reading, focussing on legal outcomes grounded in the ‘customs’, usages, practices and understandings of merchants, and illustrating how these were perceived as exceptional by comparison to the ordinary rules of the common law. The nature and jurisdiction of London’s court of assurances, reconstituted and empowered by the 1601 Act, are also discussed. More generally, this paper demonstrates the value of post-Restoration readings for historians of English law in the late seventeenth century.

中文翻译：

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约翰·文森特 (John Vincent) 在格雷旅馆 (Grey's Inn) 的阅读，1668/9，关于 1601 年商人保证法

摘要 在 Lent Term 1668/9 中，Gray's Inn 的一名长凳约翰·文森特 (John Vincent) 宣读了 1601 年《商人保证法》(43 Eliz. I, c.12)。法律记者约瑟夫·凯布尔 (Joseph Keble) 的笔记记录了这种对数百年历史的阅读传统的遵守，这种传统注定会在接下来的 20 年内失效。本文将文森特的阅读置于 17 世纪不断变化的阅读传统中。它强调了阅读在传播复杂的法律知识方面继续发挥的作用，特别是在海上保险等较新的实践领域，这些领域在很大程度上不了解成文法、普通法先例或参考书，并且很难通过书籍掌握- 独自学习。它检查了阅读期间讨论的一系列问题，侧重于基于“习俗”、习惯、做法和商人理解的法律结果，并说明与普通法的普通规则相比，这些结果如何被视为例外。还讨论了由 1601 年法案重组和授权的伦敦保证法院的性质和管辖权。更一般地说，本文证明了复辟后阅读对于 17 世纪后期英国法律史学家的价值。