Key Ideas in Commercial Law

Commercial law is the label applied to the collection of rules and principles which cover dealings between parties acting in the course of business. Commercial law is as diverse as commercial life. Nonetheless, there are key ideas which underpin all types of commercial dealings. This book focuses on those key ideas and considers how modern commercial law implements them.

This book argues that commercial law has three main concerns:

• Agency. The extent to which multiple parties can act on behalf of a single commercial enterprise. Without agency rules, there could be no modern commercial economy
• Risk. Commercial parties run two main types of risk: performance risk (the risk that the provision of goods or services or credit is inadequate) and credit risk (the risk that money due for performance rendered is not paid)
• Dealings. The ability of, and limits on, parties dealing with property, including transferring title and creating security interests

In the process of exploring this trilogy, the book considers pervasive themes in commercial law including sources for commercial law, freedom of contract and its limits, the need for certainty and predictability, and the appropriate role for obligations of good faith and fair dealing.