ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the law and its changes, in different historical, political and economic contexts. It aims to offer a comparative perspective on Northern and Southern Europe: believes that such an approach is entirely relevant, although still missing from the literature on the topic. The book focuses on economic and work activities in urban areas between the Middle Ages and the modern period. It explains that, in Brittany, this juridical concept was imposed only in the sixteenth century, replacing the feudal law founded on lineage, and must be seen in the context of a dynamic economic trend. The book also explains, whereas it was mainly the local statutes of some Italian cities that recognised women's status as mercatrix, women's ability to act from an economic point of view was a fact common to all Italian states.
