Fairs and markets are not different institutions—a fair is a market of a particular kind, an important market held not once or several times a week, but once or several times a year. The customs, the rights, and the law of markets are therefore relevant to fairs; and generalisations as to markets apply to fairs.

There is no direct evidence as to the origin of markets and fairs in England. Early Oriental and classical literature indicate that they have served all peoples whose development has reached a certain stage. As communities cease to be entirely self-supporting trade arises naturally; and trade is obviously facilitated by a concentration in particular places at particular times of sellers and buyers. Certain of these gatherings had in the ninth century already been regularised in England as markets. The king or other lord had become responsible for the validity of sales in them, and suffered them to take place within the territory over which he had power. In return he received from the market people tolls, fines for transgressions, and other dues, which were a considerable source of profit, sufficient to make the tenancy of a market an object of desire. It was frequently acquired by a religious house.

It is noteworthy that the king was regarded as the original holder of all market right in England. The lord who had a market on his manor, whether in virtue of a royal charter or by force of a custom of which the beginning had been forgotten, was considered to exercise a right which initially had been derived from the king. In historic times the establishment of new markets has been, until recently, only possible by means of a royal grant.