Francois Chaudet, Was ist Wirtschaftsrecht?, in Anwaltsrevue, Jg. 3 (2000), 8, p. 4-6
Francois Chaudet – Was ist Wirtschaftsrecht
Summary
At the start of this essay, Prof. Dr. Francois Chaudet states that the University of Lausanne has done pioneer work by introducing economic law lectures in the late eighties. Meanwhile, economic law appears everywhere; for example, in the “Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht” (Swiss Journal for Economic Law) or the “Association de droit des affaires” (Association for Business Law).
Prof. Chaudet further notes that economic law had its biggest boom during the Middle Ages. At that time, “the law of the merchants” complied with three needs: internationality, speed and enforcement.
The author also emphasizes the difficulties faced by lawyers in finding a common definition of economic law. In his opinion, economic law contains a broader area of application than commercial law because the former also contains legal areas which are not part of commercial law , such as debt enforcement and bankruptcy law, commercial criminal law, consumer protection, unfair competition, etc.
Since a variety of sources for economic law already exist (e.g., in the Swiss Code of Obligations, Swiss Civil Code, specific laws and international concordats), the author defines Swiss economic law as “an educational codification of different legal fields, which frames and patterns the life of companies and merchants”.