Merchandise

A term including all those things which merchants sell, either wholesale or retail; as, dry goods, hardware, groceries, drugs, etc. It is usually applied to personal chattels only, and to those which are not required for food or immediate support, but such as remain after having been used, or which are used only by a slow consumption. See Pardessus, n.

8; Dig. 13, 3, 1; 19, 4, 1; 60. 16, 66; U. S. v. One Hundred Twelve Casks of Sugar, 8 Pet. (U. S.) 277, 8 L Ed. 944; Sewall v. Allen, 6 Wend. (N. Y.) 335.

It may be and often is used as the synonym of “goods,” “wares” and “commodities.” If used in an insurance policy to describe the goods of a merchant it may very properly be limited to goods intended for sale. If used for the same purpose to describe the goods of a painter, it may be held to cover property intended for use, and not for ^ale; Hartwell v. Ins. Co., 84 Me. 524, 24 Atl. 954. Mere evidences of value, as bank-bills, are not nierchandise. “The fact that a thing is sometimes bought and sold does not make it merchandise.” Story, J., Citizens’ Bank V. Steamboat Co., 2 Story 16, Fed. Cas. No. 2,730; 2 Parsons, Contr. 331. “Goods, wares, merchandise,” has been held to embrace animate, as well as inanimate, property, as oxen; Weston v. Mc Dowell, 20 Mich. 353; or horses; U. S. v. One Sorrel Horse, 22 Vt. 655, Fed. Cas. No. 15,- 953. “Merchandise” may include a curricle; Anth. N. P. 157; or shares in a joint-stock company; Pray v. Mitchell, 60 Me. 430; or horses and trucks; The Garden City, 26 Fed. 766. See Stock. MERCHANT (Lat. mercator, merso). A man who trafiicks or carries on trade with foreign countries, or who exports and imports goods and sells them by wholesale.

Webster, Diet.; Lex Mercatoria 23.

These are known by the name of shipping-merchants.

See Com. Dig. Merchant (A); Dy. 27911); Bacon, Abr. Merchant.

One whose business it is to buy and sell merchandise: this applies to all persons who habitually trade in merchandise.

Thomson V. Hopper, 1 W. & S. (Pa.) 469; 2 Salk. 445.

One who Is engaged in the purchase and sale of goods; a trafficker; a trader.

Crater V. Deemer, 4 Pa. Co. Ct. Rep. 378.

A person engaged in buying and selling merchandise at a fixed place of business, which business is conducted in his name, and who during the time he claims to be engaged as a merchant does not engage in the performance of any manual labor except U. S., 193 U. S. 617, 24 Sup. Ct 517, 48 L. Bd. 772. Merchants, In the statute of limitations, means not merely those trading beyond sea, as formerly held; 1 Chanc. Oas. 152; Thomson V. Hopper, 1 W. & S. (Pa.) 469; but whether it Includes Uommon retail tradesmen, re; 4 Scott N. R. 819; 2 Parsons, Contr. 369, 370. See, also.

Spring v. Gray, 6 Pet. (U. S.) 161, 8 L. Ed. 352; Anderson v. Com., 9 Bush (Ky.) 569.

The term has been held to Include: an ice-dealer; Kansas City v. Vlndquest, 36 Mo. App. 584; a hotel-keeper; 12 Duv. 107; a banker; Brown v. Pike, 34 La. Ann. 576; the keeper of a boarding stable; 17 Bankr. Rep. 73; and a saloon-keeper; id.

— 102; but not a brewer; L. R. 7 Ex. 127; a commercial traveller or drummer; Ex parte Taylor, 58 Miss. 478, 38 Am. Rep. 336; City of Kansas V. Collins, 34 Kan. 434, 8 Pac. 865; the superintendent and treasurer of a steamboat corporation; In re Merritt, 7 Fed. 853; a theatrical manager; In re Duff, 4 Fed. 519;

or a speculator in stocks; L. R. 2 Ch. 466; Ex parte Conant, 77 Me. 275, 52 Am. Rep. 759; a farmer; Lansdale v. Brashear, 3 T. B. Monr. (Ky.) 330; a druggist; Anderson v. Com., 9 Bush (Ky.) 569;

— or the principal of a, boarding school who provides the students with clothes and books; State v. Smith, 5 Humph. (Tenn.) 394.

According to an old authority, there were four species of merchants: namely, merchant adventurers, merchants dormant, merchant travellers, and merchant residents; 2 Brownl.

99. See, generally, 9 Salk. 445; Bacon, Abr.; Comyns, Dig.; 1 Bla. Com. 75, 260; 1 Pardessus, Droit Comm. n. 78; 2 Show. 326; Bracton 334.