 These characteristics serve as important measures in the appointment of international commercial arbitrators today such as the European Commissioner for Trade, Phil Hogan holds the present post.The "lex mercatoria" owed its origin to the fact that the civil law was not sufficiently responsive to the growing demands of commerce, as well as to the fact that trade in pre-medieval times was practically in the hands of those who might be termed cosmopolitan merchants, who wanted a prompt and effective jurisdiction.It was administered for the most part in special courts, such as those of the guilds in Italy, or the fair courts of Germany and France, or as in England, in courts of the Staple or Piepowder.