conduct of everyday affairs.[4] 'The pre-eminence of morality in
the domain of economics constitutes at the same time the distinctive
feature, the particular merit, and the great teaching of the economic
lessons of this period.'[5]

[Footnote 1: _Irish Theological Quarterly_, vol. vii. p. 151.]

[Footnote 2: _Christianity and Economic Science_, p. 10.]

[Footnote 3: Brants, _Les Théories économiques aux xiii^{e} et xii^{e}
siècles, p_. 34.]

[Footnote 4: Gide and Rist, _History of Economic Doctrines_, Eng.
trans., p. 110.]

[Footnote 5: Brants, _op. cit._, p. 9.]

Dr. Cunningham draws attention to the fact that the existence of such
a universally received code of economic morality was largely due to
the comparative simplicity of the mediæval social structure, where
the _relations of persons_ were all important, in comparison with the
modern order, where the _exchange of things_ is the dominant factor.
He further draws attention to the changes which affected the whole
constitution of society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
and proceeds: 'These changes had a very important bearing on all
questions of commercial morality; so long as economic dealings were
based on a system of personal relationships they all bore an implied
moral character. To supply a bad article was morally wrong, to demand
excessive payment for goods or for labour was extortion, and the
right or wrong of every transaction was easily understood.'[1] The