Legal Definitions - regrating

Regrating refers to a historical practice, once considered a criminal offense, where an individual would purchase goods, particularly essential provisions, from a market with the specific intention of reselling them quickly within the same market or a very close vicinity at an inflated price. The core issue was the artificial manipulation of prices and the disruption of fair trade for basic necessities.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of regrating:

• Imagine a bustling medieval town market where farmers bring their fresh produce. A shrewd merchant arrives early and buys up nearly all the available sacks of grain directly from the farmers. Instead of transporting the grain to another town or processing it, the merchant immediately sets up his own stall just a few yards away within the same market square. He then begins selling the grain at a significantly higher price than he paid, taking advantage of the fact that he now controls most of the local supply.

  This illustrates regrating because the merchant purchased an essential commodity (grain) in a market and promptly resold it within the same market at an inflated price, aiming to profit from the immediate local demand and limited supply.

• Consider a coastal village during a period of scarcity for lamp oil, a vital commodity for light and warmth. A local trader travels to the docks when a supply ship arrives and purchases almost the entire shipment of lamp oil. Rather than distributing it fairly or transporting it to another region, the trader immediately opens a temporary shop just a short walk from the docks, within the same village. He then sells the lamp oil at a premium, knowing that villagers have few other options for obtaining this necessity.

  This example demonstrates regrating as the trader acquired an essential good (lamp oil) in a local market (the docks serving the village) and resold it very close by at a substantially higher price, exploiting the immediate local need and creating an artificial shortage for quick profit.