Rivista del Diritto Commerciale e del diritto generale delle Obbligazioni

Abstract: This article – derived, with some changes, from an essay written with the purpose of presenting the latest book of an authoritative civil law scholar – deals with delicate issues of legal theory, especially in order to determine whether commercial law scholars find themselves duly represented in the theories and the systematics established by civil law scholars or whether, albeit the latters’ undeniable deviations from the neo-pandectist hermeneutic tradition of the first years of the last century, commercial law needs to structure itself on, at least partially, autonomous principles and systematic. The consolidation, occurred in Italy in 1942, of the Civil Code of 1865 and the Commerce Code of 1882 into one lengthy and complex legislative text makes one think, especially if the perspective of legal positivism in adopted, that the separation of the two subjects, civil and commercial law, makes no more sense, since only the list of the sources (commercial practices lost the role that was recognized to them in the older Codes) and the wording of the legal provisions would matter. The solution changes, if, in the hermeneutic process, institutionalism is embraced and the factual perspective is preferred (the context, the interpretative traditions, the power structures prevailing in certain areas of the society, i.e., in a phrase: “the relevant scenarios”), by means of which the prescriptive content of legal provisions is specified, developed and concretized. In the latter perspective, it appears evident that commercial law needs (and has elaborated) a set of principles, that are partly conflicting with those of civil law, thus paving the way to new theoretical constructions.  

Sommario: 1. Premessa. – 2. Dottrine generali, manuali istituzionali, principi di diritto. – 3. Diritto civile e Diritto commerciale: una difficile distinzione. – 4. Dottrine e teorie. – 5. La parziale indeterminatezza delle norme. – 6. I confini del Diritto privato e le partizioni interne. – 7. L’art. 101, co. II, della costituzione e l’art. 12 delle preleggi. – 8. Il diritto come esperienza comunicativa. – 9. Diritto privato e Diritto pubblico. – 10. L’autonomia negoziale. – 11. I diritti e le altre situazioni soggettive. – 12. Le tutele e i rimedi. – 13. Soggetti di diritto, mercati, attività. – 14. Conclusioni.