Is the Business and Parliament Concept 250 years old?*

Policy dialogue between businesses and legislators goes back to the mid 18th century.

Lord Mansfield William Murray (Lord Chief Justice 1756-1788), the master architect of English commercial law, used to appoint businessmen to his juries and invite them to dinner to learn about their practices**.

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield PC (2 March 1705 – 20 March 1793), was a British judge and politician who reached high office in the House of Lords. He has always been recognized as the founder of English mercantile law. The common law as it existed before his time was wholly inadequate to cope with the new cases and customs which arose with the increasing development of commerce. Lord Mansfield found the law in this chaotic state, and left it in a form that was almost equivalent to a code.

*IABP thanks Giorgi Dartsimelia, John Smith Fellow and Chevening Scholar at SOAS for providing this relevant piece of information.
** Nicholas HD Foster. School of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Editor, Journal of Comparative Law