Value

(val'yoo.) [Fr., from L. valen, I am worth.] (Com.) The price or worth of any purchasable commodity. The V. of commodities is regulated principally by the comparative facility of their production, and partly on the relation of the supply and demand. But many other causes operate to raise or depreciate the V. of an article; as monopolies, fashion, new inventions, the opening of new markets, or the stoppage of commercial intercourse through war, . And, in fact, in all countries where merchants are po e ed of large capitals, and where they are left to be guided in the use of them by their own discretion and foresight, the prices of commodities will frequently be very much influenced, not_merely by the actual occurrence of changes in the accustomed relation of the supply and demand, but by the mere anticipation of them. - V. in another sense, denotes those properties in a thing which render it useful or estimable, thus, for instance, the real V. of iron is far greater than that of gold. [s. 928]