0% found this document useful (0 votes)
58 views4 pages

Merchants and Commercial Activities

This document discusses the definition, qualifications, and obligations of merchants under Lebanese law. It defines a merchant as someone whose regular occupation is commercial activities like buying and selling goods. Merchants must be 18 years old, register with the commercial register, and maintain proper commercial books recording their transactions. Maintaining accurate commercial books is important as it can be used as evidence in the merchant's favor or against them depending on how they are kept.

Uploaded by

Coci Khoury
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
58 views4 pages

Merchants and Commercial Activities

This document discusses the definition, qualifications, and obligations of merchants under Lebanese law. It defines a merchant as someone whose regular occupation is commercial activities like buying and selling goods. Merchants must be 18 years old, register with the commercial register, and maintain proper commercial books recording their transactions. Maintaining accurate commercial books is important as it can be used as evidence in the merchant's favor or against them depending on how they are kept.

Uploaded by

Coci Khoury
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

,J.

MORTADA, BUSINESS LAW

Definition , Qualifications and Obligations of Merchants

 Law differentiates between merchants and non merchants.


 There are rights and duties that rise due to this differentiation.
 Merchants are persons who are engaged in trading transactions as their regular
occupation. Thus occasional or single operations do not make the person a merchant
in the eyes of law.

 Definitions.

 A Merchant: is the person whose profession is to carry on commercial activities.


 Commercial activities: in principle are buying and selling with the expectation of
profit.
 Commercial activities: includes buying goods for the purpose of resale at a profit,
exchange and banking operations, manufacturing enterprises, transportation,
commission and brokerage, insurance, public show enterprises (as theaters &
cinemas, hotels , restaurants), warehouses ‫ المخازن‬, exploitation of minerals and oil,
real-estate enterprises, general agencies(commercial representation, travel export and
import offices).

 A company is considered a merchant if it takes a commercial form‫شكل تجاري كشكل‬


‫ شركة مساهمة‬or if it carries out commercial activities.

 A person is considered a merchant even if he does not perform the activity in person
it is enough if he performs it through an employee or a manager, the laters are not
considered merchants.

 A broker is considered a merchant if such mediation is his usual profession, a single


or occasional act of brokerage does not make a merchant from the person.

 A craftsman (like a potter) ‫ الحرفي‬is the person pursuing an occupation requiring his
skills and training, particularly manual skills combined with the knowledge of the
principles of art. He is not considered a merchant provided the number of the
craftsmen working together does not exceed 15 persons.

 The case of small merchant:


Peddler ‫ بائع متجول‬, retailer: buys single articles in small quantities in order to resell
them, small transporter, these are considered merchants with the exemption from
the legal obligation of keeping commercial books and from publishing formalities.
2

 Qualifications of merchants

 Age: 18 years it the age when a person starts to be capable in the eyes of law to of
binding himself.
o Sometimes the court declares someone as a minor although he is of full age,
the raison behinds this lies in the fact that he is incapable of managing his
own affairs; in such a case a curator (keeper) is appointed.

 Insane ‫جنون‬: is the one who is not able to distinguish between right
and bad conduct, and cannot comprehend the nature and
consequences of his acts(lacks raison ,memory and intelligence )
 Lunatic ‫عته‬: lost of understanding due to sickness or accident.
 Prodigal‫ س فيه‬: this is the case of a person with bad conduct of
extravagant habits (spending money in an irresponsible way)

 Marriage : married women was restricted from practicing commerce, this rule was
abrogated‫ الغيت‬in 1994( this is a good example on how the legal rule is permanent
but not eternal and thus can be amended) .

 Freedom of trade:
This is the principle , on it there are several restrictions:
 Unfair competition: takes the forms of :
o Dishonest or fraudulent rivalry ‫المنافسة غ ير المش روعة‬in trade and
commerce.
o Imitation of goods or counterfeiting the name, size ….in a way that
mislead the general public or deceive the ordinary unaware
purchaser.
 Absolute Restrictions imposed by law: drug traffic, when the state reserves
to itself the right to deal exclusively with some products like tobacco for
example.

 The professional obligations of merchant

Each merchant is obliged to affect the necessary publication formalities at the


:commercial register and keep proper commercial books
A) Commercial register: At the center of each of the six major districts in
Lebanon there is a commercial register, any physical or juristic person
(company), domestic or foreigner, who is engaged in commercial
activities in Lebanon is required to be registered in the “general
commercial register”.
o There is another register called the “special commercial register
“which is reserved to the registration of the business concern.
3

o The registration number must appear on all the papers of of the


merchant” C.R NO.” followed in the city where the registration took
place.
o The commercial registration enable the public to collect complete
information regarding any merchant.
o The registration must be made within one month of the starting day
of the merchant’s operations .
o In the case where the enterprise or establishment has several
locations within the district there will be a need to register each
location.
o If the locations are with in several districts there must be a
registration at the C R of each of these districts.
o If there is a transfer from one district to another a new registration
must be affected within one month of the transfer.
o Termination of the commercial activity must also be registered.
o All elements constituting the merchant’s business must be
mentioned in the C.R.
o Any modifications must also be registered.

 Penalties:
o the merchant who fails to fulfill the obligation of
registration shall loose all the benefits of the privileges
given to him by law:
 Using his commercial books as a tool of
evidence.
 To call for a composition in bankruptcy.
o Is subjected to a fine .
o Any false information leads to a fine and/or an
imprisonment from 1 to 6 months.

B) Commercial books:
A merchant should hold commercial books which clearly indicate his exact
financial standing well as his loss and credit accounts.
o He should at least keep:
 A Journal or a Day-book: A day by day record, if he is
prevented to do so due to the nature of his work he should
at least relate monthly the result of his daily operations
with the condition of keeping all the documents which
make possible the checking of the regularity of these
operations.
 An Inventory book: an annual book where all the elements
needed to extract, at the end of each financial year, an
annual balance sheet and the profit and loss account .
 Commercial books should be kept in chronological order,
free from spaces, erasions and insertions, every page
4

should be numbered and stamped by the notary public or


the chief of the C.F.

B) Correspondences:
The merchant must also keep copies of all outgoing and incoming
correspondences and papers as telegrams invoices faxes, these
correspondences supports what is written in the commercial books.

Note: there is a need for keeping all of the commercial books and the
supporting evidence for a period of ten years.
If properly maintained commercial books constitute evidence in favor of
the merchant, and if not properly kept it will constitute evidence against
him.

You might also like