Money, law and institutions

A version of Georg Knapp’s state theory of money has represented the mainstream view of money applied in the civil law and common law traditions of Western Europe since medieva ltimes. Following the understanding of Roman law, money was identified with the payment media issued by the sovereign body in the state. Legal doctrine recognised that the right to strike coin and to give it a value in payments belonged distinctively to the sovereign. The sovereign was entitled to change the monetary standard by altering the metallic content of the coinage or by raising or lowering its valuation in monetary units. Private law doctrines on the tender of money translated the monetary valuations made by the sovereign into practical results when the courts enforced actions for the payment of debts.