Commercial law, also called commercial law or mercantile law, is the body of civil law that govern the rights, duties, and privileges of people and company engaged in commercial activity, commerce, buying and selling, and trading. It is considered a branch of public law and actually deals with matters of both public and private law. The area of commercial law is very broad, considering that it encompasses a wide range of activities related to commerce including, but not limited to, the sale and purchase of goods or services, the registration and licensing of corporations, the setting up and operation of banks, the registration of contracts, the administration of immigration and other trade issues, the registration and licensing of financial activities, the regulation of foreign trade, the prevention of fraud and other criminal activities, the regulation of workers’ compensation, intellectual property protection, tax and others. Some courts even consider commercial law to extend to intellectual property rights.
Most business laws are designed to provide the necessary laws and procedures for businesses to successfully deal with other businesses. These laws are usually designed to govern how a business owner can conduct his business affairs so that he can earn a profit and be successful. The government usually plays an important role in the formulation of business laws because business laws often affect foreign investments and many American businesses have international partners. There are special codes and regulations that govern commercial matters in the United States and different countries, giving rise to various conflicts and other problems.
- There are different types of laws that govern different aspects of commercial businesses.
- One type of business law is the administrative law which deals with the formulation of rules and procedures for administering businesses and the protection of the rights of individuals.
- Another is the judicial law that governs crimes, property registration, acquisitions, bankruptcies, corporate acquisitions, partnership and dissolutions, land and real property matters, patent and copyright matters, copyrights and trademark matters.
- Then there is a federal law which mainly deals with the formulation of national policies and the enforcement of those policies.
- On the other hand, state law deals primarily with the administration of public programs on businesses. There are also different types of proprietary rights law such as copyrights, patents and trademarks that are implemented at the state level.
Public and private laws; can also be imposed on businesses to protect their rights to resources and their commercial viability. Private laws can be either general or specific. General laws are those that protect the rights of individual citizens against unjust enrichment or invasion of privacy. Specific laws, on the other hand, deal with discrimination and action against people in terms of their occupations, associations and political activities. Public laws are directed at providing services, facilities and benefits to people.
Business laws; can also be categorized according to objectives. Objectives may include promoting efficiency, minimizing operation costs, ensuring quality customer service, safeguarding the environment, reducing social hazards and improving quality of life. These can be in the form of overall goals, a commitment to environmental responsibility, financial obligations to employees, compliance with other laws such as those concerning advertising and product liability, building codes, government regulation and rules related to health and safety of consumers, and so on. All businesses must comply with all these laws and the businesses that do not comply will be subject to legal actions.
One other important feature of business law; includes contracts. Contracts often define the terms of the transactions in terms of legal responsibilities of the parties involved. For instance, if a person were to purchase from a supplier, the seller would be held legally responsible for all the goods that are bought during the course of the transaction. In the same way, all transactions going on between businesses must be performed legally by avoiding any breaches of implied warranties of merchantability, honesty and guarantee.
