same only by retail in open shop.  That is to say, there must be no middleman between the producer and the retailer, and a definition of the word “retail” is given.  In 1552, the 7th of Edward VI is a celebrated statute called the Assize of Fuel, applied to the city of London, notable because it forbids middlemen and provides that no one shall buy wood or coal except such as will burn or consume the same, “Forasmuche as by the gredye appetite and coveteousnes of divers persons, Fuell Coles and Woodd runethe many times throughe foure or fyve severall handes or moe before it comethe to thandes of them that for their necessite doo burne ... the same”—­under penalty of treble value.

In 1551 is the last elaborate act against regrators, forestallers, and engrossers, made perpetual by 13 Elizabeth, and only repealed in 1772.  It recognizes all previous laws against them, but recites that they have not had good effect, and therefore in the first section gives a precise definition. Forestalling—­the buying of victuals or other merchandise on their way to a market or port, or contracting to buy the same before they arrive at such market or city, or making any motion for the enhancing of the price thereof, or to prevent the supply, that is, to induce any person coming to the market, etc., to stay away. Regrating is narrowed to victuals, alive or dead, and to the reselling them at the fair or market where they were bought or within four miles thereof; and engrossing is given a definition very similar to our “buying of futures.”  That is to say, it is the buying or contracting to buy any corn growing in the fields or any other victuals within the Realm of England with intent to sell the same again.  The penalty for all such offences is two months’ imprisonment and forfeiture of the value of the goods, but for a third offence the person suffers forfeiture and may be imprisoned.  There is an important recognition of modern political economy made in the proviso that persons may engross corn, etc., when it sells at or below a certain price, not, however, forestalling it.

In 1554 is a statute for the relief of weavers, prohibiting “the engrossing of looms,” thus anticipating one of the principal doctrines of Lassalle.  In the same year, 1st of Philip and Mary, is a statute prohibiting countrymen from retailing goods in cities, boroughs, or market towns, but selling by wholesale is allowed, and they may sell if free of a corporation; and so cloth may be retailed by the maker, and the statute only applies to cloth and grocery wares, not apparently to food.