Definition
Custuma parva et nova (Latin: "small and new customs") refers to a medieval English import-export duty levied exclusively on merchant strangers — that is, foreign merchants trading in England — at the rate of three pence (3d.) in the pound sterling on all commodities, whether imported or exported. The levy was distinct from duties borne by English merchants and was commonly known as the "alien's duty." It was first granted by statute in the reign of Edward I (31 Edw. I, circa 1303).
The term contrasts implicitly with custuma magna et antiqua ("the great and ancient customs"), the older and broader system of duties that predated this impost. The "parva et nova" designation reflects its status as a supplemental, later-enacted charge directed specifically at non-English traders rather than domestic commerce generally.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is encountered almost exclusively in historical legal research touching on medieval and early modern English trade law, customs administration, and the legal status of alien merchants. Researchers working in those areas should note several navigational points.
The term is a period artifact. It will not appear in modern customs or trade law. Research use is confined to historical analysis — constitutional histories of parliamentary taxation, studies of the Exchequer and customs administration, or scholarship on the legal treatment of alien merchants in England before the consolidation of customs duties in the post-Tudor period.
The grant date matters. The statute of 31 Edw. I (the Carta Mercatoria of 1303) is the founding instrument for this duty. Researchers tracing the origin and scope of the alien's duty in primary sources should look to that instrument directly. Maddox's Historica et Antiqua Exchequer, cited in Bouvier, remains a useful secondary source for the administrative history of English customs during this period.
Distinguish from tonnage and poundage. Later parliamentary grants of tonnage and poundage, which eventually applied to both alien and English merchants, superseded the narrower alien's duty framework. Research into 17th-century customs disputes — including the constitutional conflicts over prerogative taxation — may reference the historical lineage of alien duties, but the custuma parva et nova should not be conflated with those later, broader imposts.
The Coke citation is significant. The reference in all dictionary sources to Coke's Institutes (4 Inst. 29) signals that this impost had constitutional resonance beyond mere administrative history. Coke's treatment of customs and prerogative in the Fourth Institute is a key text for understanding how common lawyers framed the limits of royal taxation authority.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are in close agreement on substance. Black's (both editions), Bouvier, Burrill, and Rapalje & Lawrence all define the term consistently as a 3d.-in-the-pound impost on merchant strangers, first granted in 31 Edw. I, and known as the "alien's duty." The convergence across sources reflects the term's narrow, well-settled historical meaning — there is no doctrinal controversy to navigate here.
Bouvier adds the reference to Maddox's Historica et Antiqua Exchequer at pages 526 and 532, which is the most detailed historical source cited among the dictionaries and is the appropriate starting point for researchers needing administrative depth beyond Black's or Blackstone.
The shared citation to 1 Blackstone's Commentaries 314 locates the term within Blackstone's treatment of the rights of persons and the legal distinctions between subjects and aliens — a reminder that this was not merely a revenue measure but also a marker of differential legal status for foreign merchants in England.
None of the historical dictionaries address the term's eventual obsolescence or the transition to unified customs duties applicable to all merchants. That silence is itself informative: these sources treat the term descriptively and historically, not as live law.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to English legal history and has no counterpart in American law. It will not appear in any U.S. legal context except as a historical reference in comparative or constitutional scholarship tracing the origins of congressional customs and duties powers.