Commercial law

Author: Ye Zhu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Commercial law is an ancient discipline. Modern commercial law originated from the commercial cities and maritime trade along the Mediterranean coast in the Middle Ages. Around the 11th century, with the gradual prosperity of commodity transactions, written laws and customary laws regulating commercial activities appeared in Europe. At this time, the main sources of commercial law included city law, autonomous rules of merchant guilds, commercial and maritime judgments, regional and cross-regional merchant customary laws, as well as isolated regulations issued by kings, lords, and the church. In 1563, the French government established commercial courts; during the reign of Louis XIV, the Commercial Ordinance and the Maritime Ordinance were enacted and promulgated in 1673 and 1681, respectively; in 1807, France issued the Commercial Code of France, a landmark in the history of legal systems, marking the separation of commercial law as an independent legal department from civil law. In ancient Chinese society, the principle of "all laws in one body" was long adhered to, and it can be said that there was no independent commercial law department or centralized commercial law system. Meanwhile, due to the emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce in ancient China, the commodity economy was highly underdeveloped, making it difficult for commercial law to flourish. The modern sense of commercial law in China began in the late Qing Dynasty. After the founding of New China, for a long period, due to the implementation of a planned economy, the focus of national legislation was on strengthening the state's ability to regulate economic activities and administrative measures to intervene in economic behavior. As a result, there was no comprehensive commercial legislation for a long time. The reform and opening-up and the establishment of a socialist market economy system put urgent demands on China's commercial legislation. With the birth of laws such as the Company Law, the Bill of Exchange Law, the Partnership Enterprise Law, the Securities Law, the Contract Law, and the Individual Sole Proprietorship Enterprise Law, China's commercial law system is gradually taking shape. However, due to China's long-standing approach of integrating civil and commercial law, without an independent commercial code, research on commercial law has been relatively weak, and there are still many differing views on issues such as the connotation of commercial law, commercial legal relationships, and the commercial law system. This book aims to take the needs of China's economic system reform and economic construction as its starting point, based on the existing laws and regulations, to construct a relatively complete commercial law system. The book is mainly divided into four parts. Part I is an overview of commercial law, including the concept, characteristics, history, and commercial legal relationships of commercial law; the second part is the legal system of commercial entities, including the Individual Sole Proprietorship Enterprise Law, the Partnership Enterprise Law, the Company Law, the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law, and the Bankruptcy Law; the third part is the legal system of commercial conduct, including the Contract Law, the Guarantee Law, the Securities Law, the Bill of Exchange Law, the Insurance Law, and the Maritime Law; the fourth part is the legal system for resolving commercial disputes, including the Arbitration Law and the Civil Procedure Law. This book has the following features:
1. Comprehensive. Following the commercial law system, the book comprehensively introduces the main content of various departments of commercial law, such as commercial entities, commercial conduct, and the resolution of commercial disputes, to help readers gain a comprehensive understanding of China's commercial law system.
2. Up-to-date. The book keeps pace with China's legislative progress, not only introducing the laws of various commercial departments but also covering the content of new judicial interpretations on bankruptcy, contracts, guarantees, bills of exchange, etc. The book also fully reflects the new concepts, theories, and methods that have recently emerged in the field of commercial law.
3. Theory combined with practice. Commercial law is an applied discipline closely related to socio-economic activities. The book intersperses engaging, concise, and targeted cases in each chapter and provides in-depth analysis, enabling readers not only to master commercial law knowledge but also to apply commercial law theory to solve practical economic problems. This book can serve as a textbook for university students and MBA students. It can also be used as a reference for social organizations, citizens participating in economic activities, and handling economic affairs.