Introduction

Commercial law is a sub-division of civil law where both public and private issues are addressed:
specifically, it constitutes rules and regulations that govern various commercial transactions that
are also known by other names, most commonly. business or trade law. Broad areas of business
are administered under this law, including both corporate and consumer transactions. The areas
covered by commercial law may include company contracts, customer credits, house loans and
secured transactions and also global commerce, banking, transport and sales are administered
by commercial banking.

As contemporary lifestyle undergoes various changes, commercial activities are experiencing

shifts on a global level. For example online trading practices are in pattern, telecommunication
and internet has connected business organizations. Due to these changing trends, commercial
law is also going through a major reshuffle to fit into the global environment. The business
organizations are also required to follow the changing trends of the commercial law. to fit in with
the global business transactions. The trade policies are also changing at a global level. Given the
new social order, international trade is largely increasing, signifying greater implications with the
internationalisation of business regulations. Commercial law is becoming increasingly
complicated with industrial corruptions being included in international business. This can be
evident from the reports of some international companies like FATF show global commercial
corruption is closely associated with money laundering. Due to this money related corruptions,
commercial law at trans-national level is also requiring to be modified to be fit into new
emerging business trends.

This essay assesses the important features of commercial law included in the resurgence of
commercial law in the twentieth century, so that the required changes pertinent to the twenty
first century could be made to encourage trade activities. A background to commercial law and
its resurgence will be outlined. Furthermore, the transformed commercial law and expected
developments with its application in the international trade in the next century will also be
shown.

Resurgence of transformational commercial

In the twentieth century, the laws managing global trade have been strengthened, codified and
harmonised. Therefore, commercial law needed to change into a denationalised form to
encompass all types of business regulatory issues of both private and public activities such as tax
rate, protection of rights to do business, etc. To do so, several new features were included
appropriate to 21st century business trends. For example, intellectual property law was added to
secure the business interests of particular organizations in the international business
environment. International arbitration was used to remove trade disputes among the involved
countries in international trade practices.

The commercial law in application in the 21st century is different from that used in the
nineteenth century due to the resurgence of older aspects. Prior to this it existed, in a certain
sense, in the law used in the eighteenth century for marine insurance and shipping activities.
During the initial stages, commercial law was largely applicable to marine business transactions
and trading by sea. Following the global revival, commercial law has witnessed the inclusion of
new conventions, regulations and agreements related a number of business practices. Having
been denied recognised market relationships with their own economies, several countries like
the UK and US were determined to adopt the practices of private commerce during the 20th
century, while some others including South African countries did not find the most suitable and
domestic laws preferred to practise the commercial laws which were followed in New York and
England.

Similarly, in many regions such as Europe and the US, regulations were introduced in
international strategies and policies. In these agreements, one of the most essential steps was
harmonising and organising commercial law. For example, in Europe, there was an awareness of
a need to harmonise law towards the 1950's due to great changes in economical, cultural and
geographical aspects due to the adverse results of the World War. All the member states of the
European Union were experiencing a great competition in business practices. Therefore, a
Design Directive was established by European Government at the end of the century to
harmonise the union's commercial laws and protect the intellectual property of member
countries which were involved in international trade practices. Due to such endeavours, the
transformation of the commercial law became a subject of international investigation.

The transformation of these laws also came in response to matters raised in relation to marine
business transactional practices. Previously, merchant and maritime laws were not considered
two separate entities in Europe where there were laws and codes for marine business
transactions and international trade practices, which were acceptable regionally; however, in
order to administer foreign commerce, the rules and laws were based on local customs area in
all the states of Europe. From this essay states that in the 20th century, new commercial law
became important in some aspects at a certain extent.
3) Commercial law: Changes during the 20th century

As stated, the 20th century saw changes to commercial law. In this period, just after WW2, there
was a tremendous growth in international trade which increased the need for international
trade laws. With a rise in international commerce, business companies functioning in different
countries experienced a great need to harmonise their commercial laws. In this regard there was
a great need for bilateral treaties for phrasing the adjusted commercial relations among various
nations. This bilateral treaty was made in for the matters related to foreign direct investment.
These treaties were formed between the developed and developing countries to improve their
trade relations. An example of this might be the movements in Western Europe to harmonise
and unify business regulations and to achieve trade globalisation. Meanwhile, some changes in
Latin America included the political and legal educations of law harmonisation were provided for
business people. The main changes were tested by UNIDROIT to verify their appropriateness in
the future business world.

Another crucial development in the international trading law was the launching of the
multinational agreements like the UN (United Nations) and the economic improvement in the
collaboration and partnerships between the different member states. For instance, in 1960,
Europe was the only market for global trade, but in 1980 a Free-Trade Zone was founded by
Canada and United States. Then, in 1990, a tripartite trade agreement involving Canada, United
States and Mexico was launched. This way several trade related changes were made in the major
countries during resurgence of commercial law. From this discussion, it is observed that
commercial law experienced growth in acceptance at international level.

International Commercial law: Functional areas

The major functional areas of international commercial law in the twentieth century are
commercial customs and practices, which were maintained by the International Chamber of
Commerce. The ICC regulated trade practices and customs in the early twentieth century.. These
rules were included in all types of business contracts and were also occasionally altered due to
evolving trading realities .

Another change related to international trade was the invention of unified Hague rules which
were related to sea and inland waterways and related transport facilities. Countries engaged in
international trade practices altered their business agreements to suit the Hague Rules.
Accordingly, these developments marked the resurgence of international commercial law during
this period where a major part of the trade practices was administered according to them.
Similarly, the Hague Rules witnessed considerable amendments and were reformed into the
Brussels Protocol. Later, the practices of these modified rules were to be transferred in to the
commercial practices at the international level. The Rotterdam Rules were another modification
taken into consideration in the commercial law during this period. All the above rule
modifications were passed to have similar business impacts on the international trade practices,
demonstrating that commercial law changed the functional areas as per the inclusion of the
rules stated above to have coordination with the global business practices.

British Laws: In terms of trade law aspects, the majority were governed according to British Law.
In fact, British trade practices were historically known for their effectiveness and
appropriateness to govern international commercial law. Britain also introduced the financial
and banking systems considered among supportive measures for international trade practices.
There were major developments in the British trading practices in the 19th century with the Bill
Of Exchange Act being pioneered in the year 1882 to maintain common trade practices
worldwide.

Clearly, in taking these aspects into account, the resurgence in commercial law during the
twentieth century was very efficient. This resurgence was followed by various effective measures
and rules related to the commercial laws. As a result, the commercial law in the twenty first
century would be developed as a globally applicable commercial law.

Positive and Negative aspects of Commercial law:

Drawing on our earlier discussion, transnational commercial law of the twentieth century seems
to be qualified to be implemented on a global stage in the current century since its main
precepts such as arbitration, harmonisation and intellectual property are crucial in
contemporary business practices. However, there are many challenging issues encountered
while implementing these modifications including lack of harmonisation due to conflicting
business regulations, technological developments and business disagreements.

Despite their advantages, commercial law practices are not welcomed universally and face
obstacles such as harmonisation, which is a great challenge for commercial trade practices at
present. Due to diversified national laws, the implementation of the harmonized commercial law
is becoming critical. In opposition to this, Ansel has argued that disparity in national laws is
harming the requirements of economy of present century. The harmonization of law is done in a
complete manner and it is not in an inclusive form. This is because on a particular subject, there
is not any sole authority to handle it. There are certain limits of the authorities of law, beyond
which they can not take any action. The concept of harmonization of commercial law is not a
systematic one as there is no existence of any inclusive parameter for the commercial law with
the European Union's Directives. In relation to the given question it is analyzed here that all the
changes made in the resurgence of commercial law are not suitable in the present century but
some are critical to be handled.

Undoubtedly, having diverse laws in different nations is a thorny issue in harmonisation. For
example, the East European legal system has an internal coordination problem within some
countries' trading laws which are hard to be harmonised. In addition, all countries have their
own laws for running businesses. On the other hand, global businesses have to collaborate with
international commercial laws to achieve harmonisation which require adoption of global
treaties so that multilateral business practices can be administered by involved parties. Since
there is some fierce competition between countries, harmonisation of differing laws and trade
practices can be a major hurdle for total harmonisation. Due to this amalgamating different
types of commercial laws has become an essential requirement of international trade. This is
because with the implementation of the unified commercial law various types of business costs
such as transportation and facilitation of the business activities around the world could be
reduced.

Another serious challenge for global commercial laws is arbitration because some nations have
their own business regulations which can conflict with other global trade practices. Normally,
international arbitration considers the similarities as well as dissimilarities in different regulatory
systems around the world. With different developments in telecommunications and computer
networking, the international commercial arbitrations are required to change into a digital
format. Since international arbitration was established to settle trade disputes between nations
involved in international trade, there is an urgent need in the 21st century to reform the arbitral
process because practices such as sales and transportation have taken new shapes and include
modern technologies. In order to meet the criteria of different legal global entities, international
arbitration needs to undergo certain changes in the composition process, agreements and
control of the arbitral process.

Another change in the present century is the introduction of electronic trade practices. More
recently, commercial practices have increasingly been combined with the internet and electronic
technologies. Technologies like online trading, internet based communication among nations
engaged into international trade, and a worldwide network involving multiple business
organisations, ordinary trade practices are progressively taking an electronic dimension. For
example, e-bills and money transfers via electronic means are changing trade practices between
nations.

Consequently, legal procedures are essential for the best management of new practices. In
essence, there should be some measures in place to effectively deal with these issues such as
the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty where all EU member states should endorse the treaty prior
to entering into the commercial law of 21st century. As for the most practical steps to ratify the
treaty, parliamentary votes can facilitate joint decision making on any amendments to the law. In
doing so, favourable decisions for all would be implemented in an appropriate manner. In spite
of the uncertainties surrounding the implementation of this treaty in the EU, some of the
provisions of the treaty such as ACP-EU are arguably expected to have positive effects on trade
relations of the EU member states with foreign countries in trading worldwide. Regarding the
Lisbon Treaty, trading in the EU would be changed positively, and so would trade relations of the
member states with their trade partners. Therefore, the EU will ensure suitable trade practices,
while embracing the relevant changes, challenges of the commercial law in the 21st century can
be resolved appropriately.

In addition, several other changes can be noted such as new technologies, with information
technologyical practices being involved in the trade such as use of internet in the communication
process which should be followed by countries engaged into global trade like the views of the
World Trade Organization. Eventually, this would facilitate the sharing of changes in trade
practices between the many countries involved. In relation to the suitability of the commercial
law further development is required to cope with changing technologies. With the introduction
of these changes, serious challenges within commercial law can be resolved constructively.

Conclusion

This essays has examined the resurgence of commercial law in the 20th century and its
importance during the current century. Several new changes have been implemented in the
commercial law such as international arbitration, intellectual property rights and Hague rules. In
the meantime, regional commercial laws of the countries practised codification progresses,
while reformation of the commercial law took place with the introduction of several new
elements in the transnational commercial law. As a result, harmonisation of different nations'
commercial laws went into effect during this century. In addition, implementation of
international arbitration shows a recognised need for multinational agreements.
From the above analysis on the development and resurgence of commercial law in the twenty
first century, the new aspects of technology should also be considered in commercial law
practices. Transnational trading laws can be employed efficiently in modern times with the
introduction of computer network based technologies in the trade practices. Intellectual
property rights have also become essential for international trading as with the emergence of
IPR, disputes between nations can be resolved without having to depend on international
arbitration.

Contrary to the 20th century where several changes were introduced into commercial law to
make it applicable for business dealings on the global scene, in the twenty first century trade
practices have become much more globalised as more companies go international business.
Therefore, transnational commercial law has proved its suitability for this modern age of global
business.

It can also be concluded that major changes made in transnational commercial law during 20th
century are found suitable for fulfilling the requirements of the global business practices. Several
barriers of trade have been solved with the resurgence process. The volume of transnational
trade is rapidly and increasingly moving forward in the present century where economies of
different nations are being integrated and reforming in accordance with the global business
system. Further resurgence is also required in translational commercial law to meet the new
business challenges of global commercial practices in the present scenario.