Commercial Law, Law of Nations, Roman Law, Lex Mercatoria, Merchants Law, Maritime Law, Banking Law, Financial Law, Company Law, Contract Law
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This document provides an overview of the development of commercial law from antiquity to the Middle Ages, highlighting key milestones, rules, and institutions that shaped the law.
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[...] > In the 5th-6th century BC, Greek cities were the hub of the Mediterranean trade (port of Athens, the Piraeus) All goods coming from there have allowed for the development of a certain number of commercial law rules For example: ready for a big adventure (it is the ancestor of maritime credit, allows to finance a commercial expedition) A lender advanced funds to a shipowner/merchant, and if the ship arrived at its destination, the shipowner repaid the capital increased with significant interest / If the ship sank, the lender lost everything > The Greeks also invented specialized commercial courts Specialized commercial courts are courts with jurisdiction to exclusively judge commercial disputes « Dikai Enkorikai » Merchants' Courts These jurisdictions were specialized and only ruled for the navigation season Foreign merchants were able to assert their rights We tried to keep the spirit of the commercial courts (that is, the speed, and the specialty of the judges) > In Rome, the Roman Empire will unify politically and economically the territory or the Roman Empire This unification will allow a significant development of institutions and legal rules that will survive even after the fall of the empire > Initially, we have a law of nations that only applies to Roman citizens at that time But commercial law at the time is a rather international law, which also applies to foreign merchants Roman law will then develop a certain number of universal principles applicable to commercial transactions (and not just to people): - Good faith - Equity (Principle in commercial law that is still found today) - Special magistrates responsible for resolving commercial disputes (brought when one of the commercial partners was a foreigner) Magistrates were responsible for resolving civil law disputes with inhabitants and magistrates had special competences to resolve disputes with foreigners At that time, Roman law will develop a certain number of legal rules : - Rules applicable to sales contracts - Rules applicable to mandate contracts - Rules applicable to companies? [...]
[...] Introduction to Commercial Law Introduction : > Commercial Law = very varied law, deals with the internal problems of companies Here, only commercial law = law of the activity of traders in the broad sense (Assets and activities, rights, etc?) Section 1 - Commercial Law in Antiquity > Commercial law existed since antiquity Development of agriculture and craftsmanship Then development of commercial routes The exchanges were transborder > The first traces of trade are found in Mesopotamia with the first urban civilizations (Syria, Babylon?) Commercial exchanges necessarily involved livestock, cereals Certain cities were very rich because they were very fertile and had a lot of cattle trade and plantations Creation of direct rules of law for trade (first developed historically) > Code of Hammurabi A certain number of rules dealt with commercial law, the deposit contract, the commission contract, the transport contract? [...]
[...] In Mesopotamia, from this period, written rules were already important to prove commercial transactions > Regarding transportation law, it was very developed in ancient Greece (growth of Mediterranean trading posts Carthage, first commercial routes) Creation of much larger boats, on much longer routes . [...]
[...] (with the creation of affectio societatis) It was a kind of joint-stock company ahead of its time (divided into shares?) created by the Romans because they announced taxes and duties in advance and repaid themselves through sales - Rules regarding bankruptcies dishonorable, ancestor of collective procedure law (Company Law : To create a company, it's like a contract concluded Section 2 - Commercial Law in the Middle Ages > From the 5th century Long economic stagnation Rurality, feudal rules > End of the 10th century New commercial revolution « medieval commercial revolution It stems from several factors : - The demographic growth - The development of agricultural progress (with the three-year crop rotation, the watermill) Increased productivity - Political stabilization Which favors trade, investments, the economy? [...]
