This book is the result of a conference held in October 1989 in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference was entirely financed and administratively organized by the Centre d'Etudes Juridiques Européennes of the University of Geneva.

I should like to thank the Centre d'Etudes Juridiques Européennes, and in particular its director, Professor Gérard Hertig, not only for his generosity, but also for his open-mindedness. As indicated by its title, the Centre d'Etudes Juridiques Européennes is concerned primarily with Law studies; and although financial law is high on its agenda, this is far and away from financial history. It is I believe an extremely rare example of true interdisciplinary spirit to finance a conference on behalf of another –much poorer – discipline, which must be emphasized and, hopefully, followed. I should also like to thank Patricia Christen, secretary of the Centre, whose commitment and expertise smoothed away all difficulties in the running of the conference and the preparation of this volume.