We explain what a merchant is and the history of the emergence of trade. Commercial law, rights and obligations of the merchant.
The merchant has a number of rights and obligations.What is merchant?
The merchant understands is a person who is dedicated to negotiating buying and selling different merchandise as an economic activity, business, trade or profession. Merchants are those persons what do they buy products at a certain price, and then sell it at a higher price and thus obtain a difference, which constitutes the gain.
It may happen that before selling it, some transformation that provides added value has been applied to the good, or that it is sold directly in the same way in which it was bought, in which case the function is limited to bringing the customers products they might not otherwise get.
Trade history
The history of Commerce it is not separate from the general economic history of the world (and mainly from its economic systems), and began when ancient civilizations used barter as a way of exchanging possessions.
The need to continue exchanging goods even in asymmetric situations determined the emergence of currencies, with which it was no longer necessary for both parties to have something to give to receive a good from the other, since the currency became the pattern that governs these transactions. .
On the other hand, the means of transport evolved and made trade possible from one place to another, even over long distances, so that today not only internal trade but also between countries is absolutely normal.
Many are the factors that have been determining the characteristics of the commerce and traders in different parts of the world (regulation or deregulation by the Condition, new technologies, banking, digitization of processes, etc.). However, the existence of trade as an exchange of products for money is still needed, and for now, the merchant is an essential figure for this.
Commercial law
Commercial law is the branch that is dedicated to the study of the legal framework of commerce, and considers that merchants are only the people who regularly (and not occasionally) deal with the activities that the law considered mercantile. The Commercial Codes of the countries are the ones that establish the particularities, but in many cases the appraisals coincide.
Commercial acts, in our country, are the legal ones to constitute or modify commercial obligations between parties. These acts must be carried out on behalf of a person, not acquiring the category of merchant intermediaries (such as employees, transporters or managers).
For these transactions, people must have capacity, not being able to be minors, or disabled by dementia or particular diseases, as well as people who occupy a series of positions that are considered incompatible to exercise commerce (magistrates, judges or employees in collection and management of public funds, for example).
Trading is regulated, which gives the trader a number of rights but also a number of obligations. The former are guaranteed only on the basis of compliance with the latter, and include the use of accounting books as a means of proof, non-discrimination by regulatory entities, or the ability to request legal agreements with eventual creditors.
The commercial obligations in Argentina are the following:
- Registration in the Public Registry of Commerce. So that anyone can access the background of the merchant, as well as the solvency, address and responsibility.
- Preservation of all accounting books. So that individual operations can be legally identified, with due detail of figures and statuses.
- Preservation of correspondence. That it is related to the business of the merchant, not being able to make a judicial excuse for having lost or discarded it.
- Accountability to the law.