Legal Systems and Commercial Law: A Comprehensive Overview
Legal System
Definition
A legal system is a set of ordinances recognized by legal entities established and sanctioned by the state. Legal precepts regulate human relations. Statehood implies the belief in warrant standards, which are mandatory: all are subject to these rules.
Goals
The goal of a legal system is to establish rules to regulate human life. Subjective law is the power derived from these standards to legally require something.
Types of Law
Public Law
Public law regulates the organization of the state, its institutions, and the purpose of other public bodies.
Private Law
Private law refers to the individual. It sets the conditions under which people can act in the legal world and how assets can participate in the act of exchange.
Status Law
Status law encompasses the principles and rules governing the general and everyday relations of individuals.
Functions of Public Law
- Constituent Function: Organizes the state.
- Legislative Function: Prescribes regulations governing the community.
- Administrative Function: Oversees the implementation and enforcement of laws.
- Judicial Function: Resolves social conflicts.
Late 20th Century Functions of Law
- Order: Guides individuals, establishes their place in society, and outlines their duties.
- Peace: Promotes public harmony and tranquility.
- Security: Guarantees the safety of individuals and their property.
- Justice: Represents the ultimate goal of law. It ensures that everyone has what they need and receives what belongs to them.
- Common Good: Creates social conditions that allow individuals to fulfill their natural and spiritual destinies.
Functions of the Law
The law plays various roles in society according to its purposes, including structuring the state, setting the organization and powers of public authorities, establishing the form of government, protecting human rights, organizing and regulating the family, and ensuring the orderly and peaceful coexistence of the community.
Sources of Law
Sources of law are the forms in which legal norms manifest in social life.
- Custom: The constant repetition of a standard of conduct.
- Law: A declaration of the sovereign will that either prohibits or permits something. It has two aspects: source (set of rules issued by authorities, elaborated by the legislature) and content (contains rules of law, permissions, general and abstract).
- Case Law: Rules of law derived from court judgments.
- Legal Doctrine: Studies performed on the law by legal scholars.
- Act: Can be further divided into two categories:
- Legal Fact: Any natural event that has a legal effect.
- Legal Business: An expression of will intended to create, modify, or terminate a right.
Objects of Law
Objects of law are things that fall under the authority of man. They are made possible by administration. These include:
- Goods: Objects that humans seek for their value and are capable of appropriation.
- Legal Facts: Events that are economically significant and can be subject to legal relations.
- Values: Values assigned to the human personality are under legal protection to secure them, and any attack on them must be repaired.
- Organizational Values: Similar to individual values, but applied to organizations.
- Stuff and Real: Law considers things as legal objects when they are useful to humans and are susceptible to ownership. Things must meet two conditions to be considered property: they must be appropriable and they must have value. Things can be further classified as marketable or unmarketable, tangible or intangible, movable or immovable, and principal or ancillary.
Individual Legal Entity
An individual legal entity begins with the birth of a person, provided they are born alive and capable of living independently. It ends with the death of the individual.
Collective Legal Person
Collective legal persons are associations or institutions formed to achieve an end recognized by the legal order. They are legal subjects of law and have the following component parts:
- A plurality of subjects (partners)
- A working order that governs the partners
- Current or potential heritage, intended as an individual
Commercial Law
Commercial law regulates the economic activities of incorporated companies. It governs the organization and professional business activities of companies. It is characterized by the following features:
- Real and Objective: It governs commercial transactions and the actions of merchants.
- Progressive: It evolves alongside business operations, adapting to new problems and solutions.
- Expansive: Its influence extends to other areas of law.
The Commercial Code governs the obligations of merchants related to commercial transactions. It is important to distinguish whether an act is commercial or not to determine the substantive law applicable to a specific act, determine material jurisdiction, establish the profession of individuals, address matters of bankruptcy law, determine certain taxes, and apply customs.
Mixed or Dual Character Act Theory
These are acts that are considered commercial for one contracting party and civil for the other. (For example, a contract between a civilian and a commercial entity would be considered a civil act for the civilian and a commercial act for the commercial entity.)
Theory of the Accessory
The accessory follows the principal. Thus, a civil act can become commercial if it complements a larger commercial operation.
Commercial transactions are classified according to maritime and territorial space, their merchantability, the intention of the contracting parties, and whether they are carried out by companies. Acts carried out by companies are always considered commercial, regardless of who performs them. Examples of commercial acts include:
- Purchase and barter of movable things
- Buying furniture with the intention of selling, exchanging, or leasing it for profit
Commercial Sale
A sale is considered commercial when the purchase is made with the intention of selling, exchanging, or leasing the item.
Dealer
A dealer is a natural or legal person, domestic or foreign, who is habitually dedicated to the marketing of goods. They regularly engage in commercial acts. To be considered a trader, buying and selling goods must be their habitual activity. They must also have the legal capacity to make contracts (at least 18 years old and not legally barred) and exercise their trade independently.