English
This article deals with the various attempts by public authorities to regulate physical wholesale fruit and vegetable markets in the last century. The study of the implementation of these regulations, particularly as revealed in the settlement of litigation before the courts, shows that the issue of territory plays a major role in determining the scope of rules laid down by the authorities. The institutional definition of territories often resulted in conferring upon markets a function opposed to, or at least different from, the one legislators had in mind.