An ambaci dokar ne a 1860 da Henry Dunning Macleod, bayan Sir Thomas Gresham (1519<unk>1579), wanda ya kasance dan kasuwa na Ingila a lokacin daular Tudor. Duk da haka, wasu sun bayyana wannan ra'ayi a baya, ciki har da Aristophanes a cikin wasan kwaikwayon The Frogs, wanda ya kasance daga ƙarshen karni na 5 BC, a karni na 14 da Nicole Oresme c. 1350, a cikin littafinsa na Asalin, Yanayi, Dokar, da Canje-canje na Kudi, da kuma masanin shari'a da masanin tarihi Al-Maqrizicus (1364<unk>1442) a cikin Daular Mamluk; da kuma Nicolaus Copernius a 1519 a cikin wani littafi mai suna Monendae cud ratioe Saboda wannan dalili, an san shi da dokar Gresham.
1579 (a Turanci)