ABSTRACT
This chapter contains details of the legal rights, duties, and responsibilities of the assembly in dealing with the affairs of bankrupt merchants and in settling disputes regarding merchandise or property, either among the merchant community or between merchants and outsiders. Although the merchants constituted a prestigious group within the society, possessing economic power and a certain amount of political power, still they were subject to internal discrimination and extortion, on the one hand, and foreign exploitation, on the other. Amin al-Zarb was a channel through which the merchants were able to communicate their discontent to the shah. Amin al-Zarb was very much concerned that the resources of the country should be developed, as he wrote in his letter to the shah regarding the creation of a national bank. Amin al-Zarb's entry into the industrial field started with importing the machinery for a silk-reeling factory in 1302/1884.
