2006 Judicial Examination Focus… Comprehensive Explanation Series: Commercial Law. Economic Law Volume (Revised Edition)

Author: Judicial Examination Research Group
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: This book is the fourth volume of the series, covering Commercial Law and Economic Law. As legal departments or disciplines, Commercial Law and Economic Law have distinct characteristics different from other legal departments and disciplines. Understanding these characteristics is crucial for mastering this subject and achieving ideal results in the Judicial Examination. Commercial Law is the legal department that regulates commercial trade relationships. In essence, it belongs to private law, with the primary aim of protecting private rights and interests, and its content is to provide rules for commercial transactions. Therefore, Commercial Law has a profound logical and intrinsic connection with Civil Law. Many institutions, principles, and spirits of Civil Law have direct applicability to the regulations of Commercial Law. Hence, to study and master Commercial Law, it is essential to have a solid foundation in Civil Law, which is very important. However, Commercial Law is different from Civil Law and cannot be simply understood as a special law of Civil Law. In fact, many institutions, principles, and spirits of Commercial Law have gone beyond Civil Law. For instance, branches of Commercial Law such as Negotiable Instruments Law, Insurance Law, Maritime Law, Bankruptcy Law, and Company Law all have strong professionalism, technicality, and internationality and flexibility. Without specialized and in-depth study of these disciplines, it is impossible to truly master and understand Commercial Law.
Economic Law, on the other hand, is fundamentally public law rather than private law. It is the legal department that regulates the macro-control of the economy and the market. Therefore, to study Economic Law effectively, one should have a solid foundation in Constitutional Law and Administrative Law, i.e., a theoretical foundation in public law. However, since the social relationships regulated by Economic Law are closely related to the rights and interests of civil subjects such as natural persons and legal persons, studying Economic Law also requires a certain foundation in Civil Law. This is a significant feature of Economic Law.
As major subjects in the Judicial Examination, Commercial Law and Economic Law differ from other legal disciplines such as Civil Law, Criminal Law, Administrative Law, and various procedural laws in one obvious way: both Commercial Law and Economic Law consist of several branches or disciplines that are somewhat interconnected but more significantly distinct. For example, Commercial Law is composed of relatively independent legal departments such as Company Law, Partnership Law, Bankruptcy Law, Negotiable Instruments Law, Insurance Law, and Maritime Law. Economic Law, on the other hand, is made up of relatively independent legal departments such as Competition Law, Consumer Rights Protection Law, Product Liability Law, Land Law, Labor Law, Tax Law, and Environmental Law. This requires us to discover their patterns, find their commonalities, and at the same time, grasp their differences, so as to achieve twice the result with half the effort.