carta mercatoria
Carta Mercatoria (kahr-t[schwa] m[schwa]r-k[schwa]-tor-ee-[schwa]). Hist. An English statute (enacted in 1303) establishing various rules that favored certain foreign merchants. • In exchange for paying customs duties, merchants received extensive trading rights throughout England, the power to export their mer-chandise, the liberty to dwell where they pleased, and certain legal rights. — Also termed Statutum de Nova Custuma.