Merchandise, Merchant

MERCHANDISE - By this term is understood all those things which merchants sell either wholesale or retail, as dry goods, hardware, groceries, drugs, etc. It is usually applied to personal chattels only, and to those which are not required for food or immediate support, but such as remain after having been used or which are used only by a slow consumption.

MERCHANT - One whose business it is to buy and sell merchandise; this applies to all persons who habitually trade in merchandise.

In another sense, it signifies a person who owns ships, and trades, by means of them, with foreign nations, or with the different States of the United States; these are known by the name of shipping merchants.

According to an old authority, there are four species of merchants, namely, merchant adventurers, merchant dormant, merchant travellers, and merchant residents.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.