A member of the lowest human societies is subject to law; tho he is a savage he is not "untutored." On the contrary he is bound in many ways to follow customary lines of conduct, and a large part of his time is given to learning the traditions and then to observing the ceremonials of the tribe.
Primitive customs always take on a religious sanction, and every member of the tribe is piously bound to do as his fathers have done and as his neighbors are doing.

This limitation applies to the choice of food to eat, clothes to wear, time to hunt, plant, and harvest, weapons and tools to use, where and how to trade, how much to give or take, and to countless other details of economic choice.

So, in early society, economic relations were complex and but slowly changing from generation to generation.

Custom, rather than competition, ruled in manifold ways the economic actions of men.
Custom continued to rule a large share of the individual life of the peoples of northern Europe through barbarian and feudal times.

Its force has gradually decreased, but even yet is not entirely set aside.
Political and economic interests were not clearly distinct in the Middle Ages.