1.1. The meaning of the notions of “commercial law” and “business law”. Conceptual definitions
1.2. The object of commercial law and business law
1.3. The juridical commercial (trade) relations
1.4. The national law system. The place of commercial law branch in the national law system
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
The commercial field has three dimensions:
- the pragmatic (concrete) dimension – refers to the commercial relationships where the commercial activity takes place;
- the legal dimension – refers to the commercial legislation (the sources or legal fundamentals of the commercial law);
- the theoretical dimension – is expressed by the business law doctrine, the business law subject, the business law science.
THE THEORETICAL DIMENSION
We will refer, first of all, to the theoretical dimension because it clarifies a set of notions, concepts, specific for the commercial field, whose presence in the legislation has a practical impact and importance due to the necessity of interpreting and applying correctly the legislation. So, in other words:
§ it refers to the subject “Business law”, the business law science and the business law doctrine;
§ it involves the clarification of certain notions, theoretical aspects or which result from the legislation in the commercial field.
THE CONCEPTUAL DEFNITION OF BUSINESS LAW
Business law designates an assembly of legal norms relating to a large sphere which refers mainly to the commercial activities in their various forms, like the commercial operations and juridical acts, as the commercial contracts, but also the commercial professional obligations of the traders, as physical and legal entities, and other aspects which concretise and condition the business, such as : the juridical labour relations, the fiscal relations (the traders are subject to the Financial-fiscal law as contributors), the public and private institutions with authority in the commercial field, the commercial publicity and competition.[1]
Commercial law
Commercial law represents:
§ the traditional name of the law branch and subject;
§ a traditional and distinct (autonomous) branch of the national law system;
§ a set of private law juridical norms which regulate two categories of juridical relations:
- juridical relations originating in commercial facts (juridical acts, juridical facts and commercial operations)
- juridical relations where traders participate (trading physical and legal entities).
- In the French doctrine, for example, the definition of the notion of commercial law emphasizes that it is a private law branch regarding the juridical operations concluded by the traders and by the traders and their clients; these operations are reported to the exercise of commerce as activity and are qualified as commercial acts. The commercial law is the law of the traders and of the commercial acts.[2]
[1] Angela Miff, Dreptul afacerilor ÅŸi legislaÅ£ie în turism. Note de curs (Business law and tourism legislation. Course notes), The Publishing House of the Foundation for European Studies, Cluj-Napoca, 2005, p.1.
[2] Jacques Mestre, Marie-Eve Pancrazi, Droit commercial. Droit interne et aspects droit international, 26 edition, L.G.D.J., 2003, p.1.
