This interview was originally published on the website of Tilburg Law School: [link].

Legal historian Marco In ’t Veld places a river at the center of his research. And wine. But what does the EU have to do with the Rhine, and the trade carried on it between the 14th and 17th centuries? In ’t Veld studies the cooperation between people involved in the wine trade across different cities and countries. He also looks at the rules (such as taxes) that applied to this trade. Were these rules enforceable, and could they actually be upheld? He received a grant for his research and hopes to uncover patterns that could be useful in our time, especially in Europe, where close cooperation is crucial. The research will be completed in 2028.

“Much research has been done on maritime trade, but surprisingly little on commercial relations along rivers. I wanted to study the intensive trade flows and the cities that were interconnected. That led me to the Rhine. Wine was transported from German cities, via Mainz, Koblenz, Cologne, among others, to Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Gorinchem, Dordrecht, and from there further to Middelburg and Antwerp. I chose wine because it was the most valuable product transported along the Rhine at that time.”

Cooperation between cities and countries

“In particular, I focus on the rules of the wine trade: how did merchants and cities connect—did they work well together, or were they mostly competitors? Did they take each other’s interests into account? Did cities try to extract as much money as possible through tolls or other obligations (for example, forcing goods to be unloaded and sold locally), or did they see the value of agreements and cooperation to increase overall turnover and profits? For example, if wine from German regions had to be unloaded in Dordrecht and first offered at the market there (a so-called staple right), was this purely to increase the income of the city and county, or was there more behind it? And was such a rule even enforceable?

Legal historians mainly study legal documents, but I look into how those rules played out in practice—whether and how they could be enforced. That becomes clear, for instance, when people went to court. Just as today, geopolitical tensions were always in the background. In the 15th century, German and Guelders cities clashed with Dutch cities over tolls and staple rights. This could undermine trust in trade, and possibly lead to the search for alternative trade routes.”

In ‘t Veld obtained his PhD on commercial customary law between Amsterdam and Lyon. “While Amsterdam focused mainly on maritime trade, Lyon depended on river trade, which operated under very different rules and dynamics. When I was in Lyon, I got the idea to study more deeply how cities interacted through river trade.”

Abuse of regulations

“I found it a historical thrill to work in the archives, to read tangible documents from, say, a 17th-century secretary. You come across all kinds of material about tolls. Authorities tried to regulate and facilitate trade. To that end, they built tollhouses, cranes, exchange offices, and weighing houses.

Today, there are far more implementing organizations—think of the Tax Authority, Rijkswaterstaat, or regional Environmental Services. Sometimes enforcement fails. You could already see similar problems in the past. In principle, everyone passing a city had to pay tolls, but some were exempt. Then you need checks—but how do you do that? How do you prevent abuse of exemptions, for example if intermediaries with exemptions were used on behalf of others?

Another example: for wine transshipped to Zierikzee and Middelburg, no toll had to be paid in Dordrecht. But how could you be sure the wine really went to Zierikzee or Middelburg, and not to Bergen op Zoom or Antwerp? That’s why there were so-called ‘followers’—probably small boats that trailed behind ships to check whether goods were indeed unloaded at their declared destination. These followers then had to paddle back again, of course adding extra costs. Could those costs be passed on to merchants? If so, the route became less attractive, and the temptation grew to evade the rules.

Toll officials and their clerks kept the records. Some skippers had all kinds of tricks to pay as little toll as possible: forging documents, using intermediaries, hiding valuable goods at the bottom of the ship, and so on. So my central question is: did this legislation actually work in practice? That’s still a relevant question today: can we enforce laws, or do they merely serve a symbolic function?”

Trump, tariffs, and the EU

“The research is also relevant because it concerns the meaning of borders. In the EU, we try to remove borders and make trade more efficient and prosperous. On the other side of the Atlantic, we see the opposite trend: Trump introducing tariffs—a kind of toll—to protect the American economy. These two opposing positions—one about connection, the other about competition—are age-old themes. My idea is that by better understanding this distinction, we can shed light on issues that may benefit us today.

That’s why I look at a river first. A river like the Rhine, which crosses multiple sovereign territories—what does that mean for cooperation and/or competition? That is what I am trying to uncover with this research.”

---