Legal Definition and Related Resources of Merchant

One engaged in the business of buying commercial commodities and selling them again for the sake of profit or one whose business is to buy and sell merchandise . One engaged in the purchase and sale of goods ; a trader. He is to be distinguished from a manufacturer who is engaged in making materials, raw or partly finished, into wares suitable for use. The chief distinction is that a merchant sells to earn a profit while a manufacturer sells to take profit already earned.

(Lat. mercator; merx). A man who traffics or carries on trade with foreign countries, or who exports and imports goods, and sells them by wholesale. Webster; Lex. Merc. 23. These are known by the name of “shipping merchants.” See Comyn, Dig.; Dyer, 279b; Bac. Abr. “Merchants,” in the statute of limitations, means not merely those trading beyond sea, as formerly held (1 Chanc. Cas. 152; 1 Watts & S. [Pa.] 469) ; but whether it includes common retail tradesmen, quaere (1 Mod. 238; 4 Scott, N. R. 819; 2 Pars. Cent. 369, 370. See, also, 5 Cranch [U. S.] 15; 6 Pet. [U. S.] 151; 12 Pet. [U. S.] 300; 5 Mason [U. S.] 505). According to an old authority, there are four species of merchants, namely, merchant adventurers, merchants dormant, merchant travelers, and merchant residents. 2 Brownl. 99. See, generally, 9 Salk. 445; Bac. Abr.; Comyn, Dig.; 1 Bl. Comm. 75, 260; 1 Pardessus, Dr. Com. note 78; 2 Show. 326; Bracton, 334. One whose business it is to buy and sell merchandise. This applies to all persons who habitually trade in merchandise. 1 Watts & S. (Pa.) 469; 2 Salk. 445. The term does not include those who buy goods for the purpose of manufacture and subsequent sale. 33 Mo. 424. A commercial traveler is not a merchant (58 Miss. 478), nor is a farmer who raises produce for the market (3 T. B. Mon. [Ky.] 330), nor a speculator in stocks (8 Ben. [U. S.] 663).

noun

• businessperson
• chandler
• consigner
• dealer
• distributer
• distributor
• entrepreneur
• handler
• hawker
• huckster
• mercator
• merchandiser
• middleman
• monger
• peddler
• retailer
• salesperson
• seller
• shopkeeper
• shopman
• storekeeper
• trader
• tradesperson
• vendor foreign phrases: Jus accrescendi inter mercatores
• pro beneficio commercii
• locum non habet
• The right of survivorship does not exist between merchants for the benefit of commerce

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Merchant in Historical Law

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Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Merchant in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

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Mentioned in these terms

Appointment, Power Of, Charter Party, Chose, Commercial Broker, Convoy, Credit-note, Day-book, Demurrage, Slander Of Property, Stock, Trading Stamps.

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This definition of Merchant is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

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Hierarchical Display of Merchant

Trade > Distributive trades > Distributive trades

Meaning of Merchant

Overview and more information about Merchant

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Resources

Translation of Merchant

• Spanish: Comerciante
• French: Négociant
• German: Händler
• Italian: Negoziante
• Portuguese: Negociante
• Polish: Handlowiec

Thesaurus of Merchant

Trade > Distributive trades > Distributive trades > Merchant

See also

• Cooperation agreement

• Commission agent
• Trade intermediary