A guild is an association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. Historically they were small business associations, since each crafter was a self-employed individual artisan or part of a small craft shop or co-operative. They exist in modern and medieval incarnations, both of which are discussed in this article. One's view of guilds tends to be heavily colored by one's view of political economy, since the whole history of trade, technology, intellectual property, regulated professions, and professional ethics are entwined with the history of the guilds in Europe.1 Early history
Regulated professions were a feature of the ancient and classical world. The Code of Hammurabi specified a death penalty for builder s, or masons, whose buildings fell on the inhabitants. Hammurabi himself had been a stonemason, so this could be considered an early example of self-regulation. The Hippocratic Oath applies to this day as the basis of the modern physicians' ethical code. All known legal codes include some limits on the practices or powers of juristA jurist is a professional who studies, develops, applies or otherwise deals with the law. See also jurisprudence list of jurists list of lawyers lawyer solicitor barrister civil law notary Legal occupations.s, e.g. the Rules of Civil Procedure , or politicianA politician is an individual involved in politics, sometimes this may include political scientists. In other settings, a politician is a type of political figure who participates in a government. In Western democracies, the term is generally restricted ts, e.g. the rules of parliamentary debate . It has generally been recognized that those in a position of special knowledge or trust were to be held accountable to the public for their advice and services.
Islamic civilization extended this to a degree to the artisanAn artisan is a skilled manual worker. An artisan is skilled in a particular craft, using tools and machinery. Artisans were the dominant producers of goods before the Industrial Revolution. Artisan Origins According to standard economic theory, the divis as well - most notably to the warraqeen , "those who work with paper". Early MuslimEarly Muslim philosophy can be starkly divided into four clear sets of influences: First, the life of Muhammad or sira which generated both the Qur'an (revelation) and hadith (his daily utterances and discourses on social and legal matters), during whichs were heavily engaged in translating and absorbing all ilm (" knowledgeKnowledge is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths or information gained in the form of experience or learning. Knowledge is an appreciation of the possession of interconnected details which, in isolation, are of lesser value. Knowledge is a te") from all other known civilizations, "as far as ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute." Critically analyzing, accepting, rejecting, improving and codifying knowledge from other cultures became a key activity, and a knowledge industry as presently understood began to evolve. By the beginning of the 9th century8th century 9th century 10th century other centuries) Events Beowulf might have been written down in this century, though it could also have been in the 8th century Viking attacks on Europe begin Oseberg ship burial around 813-around 915 period of serious, paper had become the standard medium of written communication, and most warraqeen were engaged in paper-making, book-selling, and taking the dictation of authors, to whom they were obligated to pay royalties on works, and who had final discretion on the contents. As the standard means of presentation of a new work was its public dictation in the mosqueMezquita (mosque) in Cordoba, Spain. A mosque is a place of worship for followers of the Islamic faith. Masjid is the Arabic term for a mosque. This term is used widely throughout the Islamic world, and the word masjid is widely preferred by many Muslims. or madrassah, in front of many scholars and students, a high degree of professional respect was required to ensure that other warraqeen did not simply make and sell copies, or that authors did not lose faith in the warraqeen or this system of publication. This was an early guild.
This publication industry that spanned the Muslim empire from the first works under this system in 874 to the 15th century, gave rise to all concerns a modern intellectual property lawyer would recognize: by means of the tens of thousands of books per year so published, instructional capital from one group of artisans admired for their work could be spread to other artisans elsewhere who could copy it and perhaps " pass it off" as the original, exploiting the social capital built up at great expense by the originators of techniques. Artisans began to take various ways to protect their proprietary interests, restrict access to techniques, materials, and to markets.
