mercantile (merkantil)

[Formerly also mercantil; Bonrepaux. was esteemed an adept in the mystery of mercantile politics. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 2. Characteristic of the busine of merchants; in accord with busine principles. It was found e ential to establish the work [the "Edinburgh Review"] on a sound mercantile basis, with a paid editor and paid writers. Sydney Smith , Wit and Wisdom. Mercantile law, the laws applicable to commercial transactions; the law merchant. See law merchant, under lawl, Mercantile system, in pol it. econ., the belief, generally held till the end of the last century, that all wealth consists in gold and silver, and that therefore the exp or tation of goods and importation of gold should be encour aged by the state, while the importation of goods and the exportation of gold should be forbidden, or at least restricted as much as po ible. While there are so many things to render the a ump 3712 This was formerly the Circus or Agonales, dedicated to sports and pastimes, and is now the greatest mercat of ye citty. Evelyn , Diary, Feb. 20, 1645. By order of court a mercate was erected at Boston, to be Winthrop , Hist. New England, I. 148. mercat an tet (mer-ka-tan′te), n. [ merc a tante (cf. Sp. mercadante = OF. mercadant , mercante ), a merchant, merc a tare , trade, mercato , rca to , trading, market: see mar ket, v.] A foreign trader. kept upon Thursday, the fifth day of the week. Tra . What is he, Biondello? Bion. Master, a mercat ante, or a pedant, I know not what; but formal in apparel. Shak., T. of the S., iv. 2. 63. there is also some small foundation in reason, though a very insufficient one, for the distinction which that system so emphatically draws between money and every other kind of valuable po e ion. J. S. Mill , Pol. Econ., Prelim. Rem. Thus, the Mercantile System admits every mode of ap plying the three factors of production, considers them really productive only in so far as they increase the quantity of the precious metals po e ed by the nation, either through the agency of mining at home or by means of foreign trade. W. Roscher, Pol. Econ. (trans.), I. 169. =Syn. Mercantile, Commercial. Commercial is the broader term, including the other. Mercantile applies only to the actual purchase and sale of goods, according to one's line of busine ; the mercantile cla in a community comprises all such as are actually in the busine of buying and selling. Commercial covers the whole theory and practice of commerce, home or foreign: as, the British are a com mercial people; commercial usages, honor, law. The word is applicable wherever the more varied activities of commerce are concerned.