- What is a civil society?
- Characteristics of a civil society
- Examples from civil society
- Advantages of a civil society
- Disadvantages of a civil society
We explain what a civil society is in law, its characteristics and examples. Advantages and disadvantages of this type of association.
What is a civil society?
At commercial law, a type of contractual association is known as civil society (that is, by contract) in which two or more individuals undertake and are obliged to jointly and jointly manage assets such as money or industry, in order to create a unnatural person that it is not governed entirely by the desire for profit, but that it equally distributes its profits among its investors.
It is before a civil society, in this way, when its members come together around a common goal, whose usefulness is appreciable in money, and whose Profits or losses all partners take part.
Civil society should not be confused with mercantile society, although the distinction is subtle, from a certain point of view: the former is not built with the pure intention of generating profit, while the latter is. In fact, two civil companies can form a commercial company, if this helps them to achieve their objectives.
A civil society can be of the following types:
- Particular. Understand certain things, such as a business, its fruits or the exercise of a certain trade or profession.
- Universal. It can be, in turn, of two types:
- Of all the goods present. The partners are owners of all the common assets of civil society, as well as their earnings, so it does not include assets resulting from inheritances, donations or legacy acquired later, but their fruits.
- Of all the winnings. It covers everything that the partners acquire during the term of the association, although the movable and immovable property of each partner remain private, but their usufruct it will be common.
Characteristics of a civil society
Civil partnerships can be public or private, depending on whether or not they have, respectively, a legal personality. In the same way, they must have a legitimate objective as a north, which is of common interest to all the partners, who in turn are divided into capitalists (who contribute the money) or industrialists (who carry out the work).
A civil society is born at the very moment in which its creation contract is signed, and lasts until the moment of its termination, which is always agreed (even if it is infinite). If it does not have legal personality, the agreements between its partners may be secret and, therefore, their totally individual actions against third parties.
Examples from civil society
Some examples of civil partnerships can be:
- Charitable institutions. Like Cáritas, the Red Cross, the Favaloro Foundation, etc.
- Local or regional sports clubs. Like Boca Juniors, River Plate, Manchester United, etc.
- Private school organizations. As centers teachers or private institutes, etc.
- Workers associations. What unions, tuition, etc.
Advantages of a civil society
A civil society does not require initial capital to establish itself.
Some virtues of a civil society are the following:
- They do not require presentation to the commercial registers, nor capital initial to be constituted. They adhere to the civil code.
- It is usually simple to establish bureaucratically, and simpler to administer than a public limited company.
- They aspire to the improvement of some aspect of the society.
- They are not required to make their accounts public.
Disadvantages of a civil society
Some drawbacks of a civil society are the following:
- It is usually considered less solid and permanent than a commercial company, so it does not usually enjoy the financial benefits of it.
- If civil society gains are high, the payment in taxes (Income Tax) will be personal for each member and will be much higher than in the case of a commercial company.
- In case of being universal, the responsibility before creditors they can be unlimited and even cover the spouses of the partners.