United Kingdom commercial law is the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

which regulates the sale and purchase of goods and services, when doing business in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

History

The Guildhall in the City of London - geograph

Lex Mercatoria ''Lex mercatoria'' (from the Latin for "merchant law"), often referred to as "the Law Merchant" in English, is the body of commercial law used by merchants throughout Europe during the medieval period. It evolved similar to English common law as ...

* Hanseatic league *

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

* Mercantilism * Freedom of contract *''

Laissez faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...

Foundations

Personal property

* Real property and personal property * Ownership * Equitable ownership * Possession * Attornment *

Bailment Bailment is a legal relationship in common law, where the owner transfers physical possession of personal property ("chattel") for a time, but retains ownership. The owner who surrenders custody to a property is called the "bailor" and the ind ...

Contracts

Commercial contracts Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

Agency

In the case of ''

Watteau v Fenwick ''Watteau v Fenwick'' 8931 QB 346 is an 1893 English case decided by the Queen's Bench. The case addresses the liability of an undisclosed principal In agency law, an undisclosed principal is a person who uses an agent for negotiations with a t ...

'', Lord Coleridge CJ on the Queen's Bench concurred with an opinion by Wills J that a third party could hold personally liable a principal who he did know about when he sold cigars to an agent that was acting outside of its authority. Wills J held that "the principal is liable for all the acts of the agent which are within the authority usually confided to an agent of that character, notwithstanding limitations, as between the principal and the agent, put upon that authority." This decision is heavily criticised and doubted,e.g. GHL Fridman, 'The Demise of Watteau v Fenwick: Sign-O-Lite Ltd v Metropolitan Life Insurance Co' (1991) 70 Canadian Bar Review 329 though not entirely overruled in the UK. It is sometimes referred to as "usual authority" (though not in the sense used by Lord Denning MR in ''Hely-Hutchinson'', where it is synonymous with "implied actual authority"). It has been explained as a form of apparent authority, or "inherent agency power". *'' Hely-Hutchinson v Brayhead Ltd''

968 Year 968 ( CMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Nikephoros II receives a Bulgarian embassy led by Prince Boris (th ...

1 QB 549 *Creation and authority of agents *Disclosed and undisclosed agency *Agent duties and rights *Termination of agency

Sale of goods

Sale of Goods Act 1979

Sale of Goods Act 1979 The Sale of Goods Act 1979c 54 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulated English contract law and UK commercial law in respect of goods that are sold and bought. The Act consolidated the original Sale of Goods Act 1893 ...

, the primary statute applicable to the sale of goods.

Property passing and delivery

* Title retention clause

Terms, acceptance and rejection

Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977c 50 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates contracts by restricting the operation and legality of some contract terms. It extends to nearly all forms of contract and one of its most impo ...

Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (totally repealed in June 2014 by The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 which in many respects are however similar regulations), Statut ...

Remedies and duties

United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), sometimes known as the Vienna Convention, is a multilateral treaty that establishes a uniform framework for international commerce.Not to be confused with ot ...

UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration is a model law prepared by UNCITRAL, and adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 21 June 1985. In 2006, it was amended and now includes more detailed ...

Bills of exchange and banking

* Negotiable instrument * Bill of exchange *

Bank regulation Bank regulation is a form of government regulation which subjects banks to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, designed to create market transparency between banking institutions and the individuals and corporations with whom th ...

Payment system A payment system is any system used to settle financial transactions through the transfer of monetary value. This includes the institutions, instruments, people, rules, procedures, standards, and technologies that make its exchange possible.Bia ...

s *

Cheque A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...

Assignment and receivables

International sales

* Free alongside ship contract *

Free on board FOB (free on board) is a term in international commercial law specifying at what point respective obligations, costs, and risk involved in the delivery of goods shift from the seller to the buyer under the Incoterms standard published by the Inte ...

contract *Cost, insurance, freight contract

Commercial credit and security

Possessory security

* Pledges *

Lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the per ...

Non-possessory security

Mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

Equitable charge In finance, a security interest is a legal right granted by a debtor to a creditor over the debtor's property (usually referred to as the ''collateral'') which enables the creditor to have recourse to the property if the debtor defaults in makin ...

* Equitable lien

Guarantees

Insurance law

* Life Assurance Act 1774 * uberrimae fidei * Subrogation *

Marine insurance Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance is the sub-branch o ...

and

Marine Insurance Act 1906 The Marine Insurance Act 1906 (8 Edw. 7 c.41) is a UK Act of Parliament regulating marine insurance. The Act applies both to "ship & cargo" marine insurance, and to P&I cover. The Act was drafted by Sir Mackenzie Dalzell Chalmers, who had earli ...

Insolvency law

Notes

References

*L Sealy and RJA Hooley, ''Commercial Law: Texts, Cases and Materials'' (4th edn OUP, Oxford 2008) *

Roy Goode Sir Royston Miles "Roy" Goode (born 6 April 1933) is an academic commercial lawyer in the United Kingdom. He founded the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. He was awarded the OBE in 1972 followed by the CBE ...

, ''Commercial law'' (3rd edn Penguin, London 2004) United Kingdom business law {{UK-law-stub