History of commercial law
The history of commercial law ( English commercial or business law ) describes the historical development of law for merchants . The commercial law matters in Germany and Austria for special private law , in Switzerland for Private Law (, English private law ).
history
Commercial customs , which have always had a decisive influence on commercial law, go back a long way. In medieval Europe, the lex mercatoria was the guideline for merchants' trade. The Italian banking system had great influence on commercial law. In contrast, the Prussian General Land Law was limited to the status of the estates .
Due to a rapid boom in trade from the 12th century, an independent right of merchants developed in the cities. Since then, brokers have established themselves who officially control the movement of goods. In addition, they kept books that were conclusive . Gildebücher took over the function of today's commercial register . It emerged trademarks and there were commission transactions performed. In the Middle Ages of the 14th century, the foundations for insurance contracts ( assecurationes ) were laid. They concerned the maritime transport of the northern Italian cities of Genoa, Pisa and Venice . In Germany, insurance contract law (as the purchase of collateral) for seafaring purposes was first established in Hamburg in the 16th century , and from the following century scientifically processed by the usus modernus pandectarum . Private fire insurances followed in the 17th and 18th centuries (keyword: Hamburger Feuerkasse ), replacing state welfare institutions, whose calculation ability increased increasingly through the mathematical developments up to the breakthroughs in probability calculation , via Pascal and Bernoulli zu Gauss . Life insurances have been calculating since the early 19th century and in 1928 the first life insurance stock corporation was established in Lübeck.
An early codification of commercial law as a body of law was a royal ordinance ( ordonnance pour la commerce / code marchand ) issued by Louis XIV in 1673, also called Code Savary , named after its creator Jacques Savary . Ordonnance was replaced in 1807 by the French Code de Commerce , part of the Code Napoléon . This work first contained the term “ Aktiengesellschaft” and now made it possible to distinguish it from other corporations .
Spain followed in 1829 with the Código de comercio , for which a commercial register was introduced; such a register already existed in Berlin in 1820. In 1919 France introduced the Trade and Companies Register.
Codifications in German-speaking countries
Written commercial law in the German-speaking area goes back to the urban rights of well-known commercial metropolises such as the Hanseatic cities (here in particular the Lübeck lawyer and mayor Johann Marquard ) and the free imperial cities , particularly Augsburg , and is in some cases heavily influenced by Italian and French commercial law.
In the German Confederation , the General German Commercial Code (ADHGB) gradually came into force in most federal states by way of parallel legislation by resolution of the then Bundestag from 1861 . From 1869 the Reich Higher Commercial Court (ROHG) was established as the highest federal court .
Germany
In 1871 the ADHGB of the states of the German Confederation was enacted as a Reich law to codify the commercial law of all states in the newly created German Reich . From 1879 the Reichsgericht performed the tasks of the previous ROHG.
After 26 years, the Commercial Code (HGB) replaced the ADHGB. The HGB, passed on May 10, 1897, came into force on January 1, 1900 at the same time as the German Civil Code (BGB).
Fundamental changes to commercial law were made through the Commercial Law Reform Act and the Transport Law Reform Act .
Austria
First of legislation commercial law in Austria was in the former Empire from 1862 the 1861, which came into force in the German Confederation General Commercial Code adopted. From 1938/1939 the scope of the Commercial Code was extended from Germany to Austria.
Even after the Second World War, the HGB with all its 5 books remained valid in both countries for the time being, but the drafting and implementation of future amendments to commercial law took place independently of one another after 1945. Ultimately, in 2005, the legislature in Vienna passed the Commercial Law Amendment Act (HaRÄG), whereby the Corporate Code (UGB) became valid with the creation of the previously announced law since 2007 and ultimately replaced the Commercial Code in Austria.
Switzerland
In Switzerland , parts of the law of obligations and company law serve as a set of rules for commercial law.
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein also adopted the General German Commercial Code of the German Confederation. This happened in 1865, in the principality it is still partly valid. Large parts, however, were replaced by the Personal and Company Law (PGR) that came into force on February 19, 1926 . The ADHGB is still of practical importance for the areas of authorized signatories, authorized agents, brokers and commercial transactions.
literature
- Jacob S. Ziegel (Ed.): International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law . Vol. IX: Commercial Transactions and Institutions. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1979.
- Karsten Schmidt : Commercial Law . Heymanns, 1999, ISBN 978-3-452-24232-7 , § 2.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uwe Wesel : History of the law: From the early forms to the present. CH Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 978-3-406-54716-4 . P. 336 and p. 394 f.
- ^ Carl von Kaltenborn: Principles of the practical European law of the sea . Carl Heymann Verlag. Berlin, 1851. pp. 44ff.
- ^ Karl Lehmann: The historical development of stock corporation law up to the Code de Commerce . Berlin, 1895. pp. 1ff.
- ↑ Rainer Wörlen , Commercial Law and Company Law, margin no. 3a, p. 2.
- ↑ HRefG, BGBl. I 1998, p. 1474.
- ↑ TRG, Federal Law Gazette I 1988, p. 1588.
- ↑ BGBl. I No. 120/2005 : HaRÄG.
- ↑ UGB in the current version, accessed February 25, 2015.
- ↑ Announcement of October 21, 1997 of the General German Commercial Code, LGBl 193/1997. The ADHGB was originally announced by the law of September 16, 1865 regarding the introduction of the general German commercial code in the Principality of Liechtenstein, LGBl. 10/1865
- ↑ Berger, Elisabeth , Reception in Liechtenstein private law with special consideration of the ABGB, 2nd edition, Vienna 2011, p. 65.
