Fairs and markets are not different institutions--a fair is a market of
a particular kind, an important market held not once or several times a
week, but once or several times a year. The customs, the rights, and
the law of markets are therefore relevant to fairs; and generalisations
as to markets apply to fairs.
There is no direct evidence as to the origin of markets and fairs in
England. Early Oriental and classical literature indicate that they
have served all peoples whose development has reached a certain stage.
As communities cease to be entirely self-supporting trade arises
naturally; and trade is obviously facilitated by a concentration in
particular places at particular times of sellers and buyers. Certain of
these gatherings had in the ninth century already been regularised in
England as markets. The king or other lord had become responsible for
the validity of sales in them, and suffered them to take place within
the territory over which he had power. In return he received from the
market people tolls, fines for transgressions, and other dues, which
were a considerable source of profit, sufficient to make the tenancy of
a market an object of desire. It was frequently acquired by a religious
house.
It is noteworthy that the king was regarded as the original holder of
all market right in England. The lord who had a market on his manor,
whether in virtue of a royal charter or by force of a custom of which
the beginning had been forgotten, was considered to exercise a right
which initially had been derived from the king. In historic times the
establishment of new markets has been, until recently, only possible by
means of a royal grant.