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The commercial law Definition of the Commercial Law Commercial Law is that branch of privet law which deal's with rights and duties of trades and certain act which are commercial act.

تعریف القانون التجاريص والذي یتعامل مع الحق وق والواجب ات للتج ار ولن وع خ اص القانون التجاري ھو ذلك الفرع من القانون الخا

.من األعمال ھي األعمال التجاریة Principles of the Commercial Law

مبادئ القانون التجاري Rapidity – Credit - Predictably - Good faith - Fairness - Party autonomy - Flexibility Rapidity

السرعة Commercial law is very faxable in regard of commercial transaction where the parties can change or terminate the contract without the need of court decision, also there are provisions in the commercial law that allow the court to respond fast in case of commercial dispute القانون التجاري مرن جدا فیما یتعلق بالمعامالت التجاریة حیث یمكن ألطراف العق د أن یغی روا أو یلغ وا العق د بدون الحاجة إلى قرار من المحكمة ، وكذلك فإن ھن اك بن ود ف ي الق انون التج اري ت سمح للمحكم ة أن تتج اوب

.بسرعة في حالة الخالف التجاري Credit:

االئتمانThe nature of commercial law transactions need credit , where one party will give loan to another party to be paid back after certain period of time. طبیعة المعامالت التجاریة تحتاج إلى االئتمان ، حیث یقوم طرف بإعطاء قرض إلى طرف آخر ومن ثم یسترده

. ة بعد فترة زمنیة محدد credit is very important for the commercial life because it helps improving the business

االئتمان ضروري جدا للحیاة التجاریة ألنھ یساعد على تحسین العمل التجاري Subject of the law ?

على من یطبق القانون التجاري ؟ There are two theories that explain the subjects of commercial law

ھناك نظریتین لتفسیر على من یطبق القانون التجاري

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Materialism theory : :النظریة المادیة

This theory states that commercial law will imply on the commercial acts whether they are done by a trader or non-trader.

یة تنص على أن القانون التجاري سیطبق على األعمال التجاریة سواء قام بھا تاجر أو غیر تاجرھذه النظر According to this theory the rules of commercial Law will apply to commercial Transaction done by any person even is he not a trader

نون التجاري ستطبق على المعامالت التجاریة التي یقوم بھ ا أي ش خص حت ى طبقا لھذه النظریة فإن قواعد القا لو لم یكن تاجرا

The theory was criticized where it makes clear distance between commercial Acts and non-commercial acts, especially with the advance on commercial world, where there are mixing in the fields of the law such as the case in the law dealing with bankruptcy النظریة تم انتقادھا حیث أنھا تضع مسافة واضحة بین األعمال التجاریة و األعمال غیر التجاریة ، خاصة مع

لة القانون المتعلق باإلفالس التطور في العالم التجاري حیث ھناك تداخل في المجاالت الخاصة بالقانون مثل حا.

Personalzim theory :

النظریة الشخصیةThis theory states that the commercial law apply to traders only, so the commercial acts will not be subject of the commercial law unless they are done by traders

لقانون التج اري س یطبق عل ى التج ار فق ط ، لھ ذا ف ان األعم ال التجاری ة ل ن تك ون ھذه النظریة تنص على أن ا .خاضعة للقانون التجاري إال إذا قام بھا التجار

This theory was criticized where it limits the scope of the law to traders only.

ري بالتجار فقط ھذه النظریة تم انتقادھا حیث إنھا تحدد مدى القانون التجا The Bahrain commercial law takes both theories in consideration. Where it applies the commercial law to the commercial acts and the acts by traders.

عمال التجاریة القانون التجاري البحریني یأخذ كال النظریتین في الحسبان ، حیث یطبق القانون التجاري على األ .وعلى أفعال التجار أیضا

Commercial acts are different from civil acts where the commercial acts has the following criteria

-:األعمال التجاریة تختلف عن األعمال المدنیة حیث أن األعمال التجاریة لھا الخصائص والصفات التالیة 1 - speculation:

:التوقع The commercial acts aim to make profit so any act that aim to make profit commercial act

.األعمال التجاریة تستھدف الربح ، ولھذا فأي عمل یھدف على الربح ھو عمل تجاري This criteria was criticized where many acts aim to make profit but are not considered as commercial act such as the work of the lawyers, doctors , etc

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تم انتقاد ھذه الخاصیة حی ث أن الكثی ر م ن األعم ال ت ستھدف ال ربح ولكنھ ا ال تعتب ر أعم ال تجاری ة مث ل عم ل المحامین والدكاترة الخ

2 - Circulation :

االستمرار والنقلAny act that deal with goods during their movement from the producer to the consumer, are considered as commercial acts

أي عمل یتعلق بالبضاعة أثناء حركتھا من المنتج إلى المستھلك تعتبر أعمال تجاریة This deals with the transfer of the goods from the factory to the buyer.

.ا یتعلق بنقل البضاعة من المصنع إلى المشتري ھذ 3 - Commercial Profession:

المھنة التجاریة This means that persons will take commercial acts as profession and will practice these acts on continues basis. so the acts of the traders will be subject to commercial law and they have commercial nature if they are similar to his profession while other acts that are not like his profession will be considered civil act such as marriage ,divorce . . etc

ولھ ذا ف ان . األعمال بصفة م ستمرة ھذا یعني بان الشخص سیمارس األعمال التجاریة كمھنة ، وسیمارس ھذه أعم ال الت اجر س تكون خاض عة للق انون التج اري ولھ ا طبیع ة تجاری ة إذا كان ت م شابھھ لمھنت ھ بینم ا األعم ال

األخرى والتي ال تتماثل مع مھنتھ ستعتبر أعمال مدنیة مثل الزواج والطالق الخ This criteria was criticized because it does not define the commercial acts

ھذه الخاصیة انتقدت بسبب إنھا ال تعطي تعریفا لألعمال التجاریة 4 - The Enterprise:

المؤسسة The distinction between the commercial acts and civil acts

التمییز بین األعمال التجاریة واألعمال المدنیة 1 - legal jurisdiction : Most of countries makes deference between commercial law and civil law where they have to judicial systems (civil courts and commercial courts) such as France and Belgium,

مح اكم (ظ امین ق ضائیین أكثر الدول تضع فرقا بین القانون التجاري والقانون المحلي حیث یك ون لھ ذه ال دول ن .مثل فرنسا وبلجیكا ) مدنیة ومحاكم تجاریة

Bahrain adopted one judicial system for both civil and commercial court , where the same court will look in the commercial case and use the commercial law and look into the civil case and use the civil law.

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البحرین تبن ت نظ ام ق ضائي م زدوج لك ل م ن المح اكم المدنی ة والتجاری ة حی ث أن المحكم ة نف سھا س تنظر ف ي

.القضیة التجاریة وتستخدم القانون التجاري أو في القضیة المدنیة وتستخدم القانون المدني

2 - Direct Execution : التنفیذ المباشر

Very important deference between the civil acts and commercial acts is that the commercial cases must have fast judgments and direct execution such as in the cases of bankruptcy, commercial paper etc

اری ة یج ب أن یك ون ھن اك حك م فرق مھم جدا بین األعمال التجاریة واألعم ال المدنی ة ھ و أن ف ي الق ضایا التج قضائي سریع وتنفیذ مباشر للحكم كما ھي الحالة في قضایا اإلفالس واألوراق التجاریة

The civil judgment need dogmatism degree to be executed while commercial judgment will be executed immediately

. القطعیة لكي یتم تنفیذه بینما الحكم في التجاري سینفذ فورا الحكم المدني یحتاج إلى اكتساب الدرجة 3 - Freedom of Proof:

حریة اإلثبات The cases in commercial law can be proved by all means of proof , because of the nature of the commercial world and because delay in the commercial cases will cost money القضایا في القانون التجاري یمكن إثباتھا بكل وسائل اإلثبات ، بسبب طبیعة العالم التجاري وب سبب أن الت أخیر

.في القضایا التجاریة یكلف نقودا 4 - Solidarity Between Debtors :

التضامن بین الدائنین If a person gives a loan to several persons jointly, then they will be all jointly liable for this debt, and he can claim the debt from anyone of them. And the creditor can take legal actions against them jointly also

لین عن إذا أعطى شخصا قرضا إلى مجموعة من األشخاص بصورة مشتركة ، فإنھم سیكونون متضامنین مسئوویمك ن لل دائن أن یتخ ذ إج راءات قانونی ة ض دھم . ویمك ن لل شخص أن یطال ب أي م نھم ب القرض . الق رض

مشتركین ومتضامنین 5 - Grace period :

فترة السماح

The grace period in civil cases is more than the grace period in the commercial cases where in some cases the judge will not give grace period if this will effect the victim , such as in case of commercial papers.

فترة السماح في القضایا المدنیة ھي أكثر منھا في القضایا التجاریة حیث في بعض القضایا یمكن للقاضي أن ال .حیة ، كما الحال في قضایا األوراق التجاریة یمنح فترة سماح إذا كانت ھذه الفترة ستؤثر في الض

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6 - Interest : الفائدة

The interest in the commercial cases are more than what they are in the civil cases because the commercial life is more risky from the civil life

ا ھي في القضایا المدنیة حیث أن األعم ال التجاری ة ھ ي أكث ر خط ورة الفائدة في القضایا التجاریة ھي أكثر مم من األعمال المدنیة

The interest rate will be fixed by the parties but will not be more than 7%

%7سعر الفائدة سیتم تحدیده من قبل أطراف العقد ولكن یجب أن ال یزید عن The Bahrain commercial law state that : -

: القانون البحریني التجاري ینص على أن interest for not paying the dept will start at the maturity date

) . تاریخ استحقاق القرض( الفائدة لعدم دفع القرض بدأ من تاریخ النضج the interest must not be more than the amount of the principle loan

یجب أن ال تزید الفائدة عن قیمة أصل القرض The creditor can ask for additional payments as compensations because of damage without the need for proving such damage

یمكن للدائن أن یطالب بمبالغ تعویض بسبب األضرار بدون الحاجة إلى إثبات ھذه األضرار Prescriptions :

التقادم Prescription is the period of time ,where at the end of it, the rights of the creditor and court judgment will have no effect

التقادم ھو الفترة الزمنیة التي عند انتھائھا فإن حقوق الدائن وقرارات المحكمة لن یكون لھا تأثیر In the civil courts, the prescription is 15 years, while in most Arab countries the commercial prescription will be 7 years, and in Egypt 10 years

سنوات وفي 7 سنة بینما في معظم الدول العربیة فان التقادم التجاري ھو 15في المحاكم المدنیة فأن التقادم ھو . سنوات10مصر

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Chapter 2 SOURCES OF COMMERCIAL LAW

The Sources of Commercial law are : -

-:مصادر القانون التجاري ھي

1 - Commercial Legislation: التشریع التجاري

legislation means legal rules made by proper authority (in Bahrain the National Assembly ), in order to control the people acts.

لغ رض تنظ یم ) في البحرین ھ ي المجل س ال وطني ( التشریع یعني القواعد القانونیة التي تصدرھا سلطة مالئمة تصرفات األفراد

All legislation must be published in the Official Gazette to be active. .یدة الرسمیة لكي تصبح فعالة جمیع التشریعات یجب أن تنشر في الجر

The commercial Law in Bahrain it is based on the law of commerce 7 of 1987 and other laws related to it

. وقوانین أخرى مرتبطة معھ 1987 لسنة 7القانون التجاري في البحرین یستند إلى القانون التجاري رقم 2 - Agreement:

- :االتفاقات The contract results from the agreement between the parties of the contract, the Bahrain commercial Law state that any contract must comply with the law. العقد ینتج عن االتفاق بین أطراف العقد ، الق انون التج اري البحرین ي ی نص عل ى أن أي عق د یج ب أن یخ ضع

.لقانون لThat means any contract must have:

-:ھذا یعني أن أي عقد یجب أن یكون فیھ A) mandatory rules:

: القواعد اإللزامیة ) أ This rules can not be broken by the agreement between the parties, and in case the contract does not comply with these rules then the contract will be void and null, an example of these mandatory rules , the commercial Books must not have blanks, deletion etc.. ھذه القواعد الیمكن كسرھا من قبل االتفاق ب ین األط راف ، وف ي حال ة أن العق د ال یخ ضع لھ ذه القواع د ، ف إن

ذا وباطال ، كمثال على ھ ذه القواع د اإللزامی ة أن ال سجالت التجاری ة یج ب أن تخل و م ن العقد سیصبح غیر ناف الفراغات والحذف الخ B) complementary rules:

:القواعد االختیاریة These rules are according to the will of the parties.

ھذه القواعد ھي طبقا لرغبة أطراف العقد Each agreement must have the following :

-:كل عقد یجب أن یحتوي على ما یلي (contract ingredients)

)مكونات العقد (

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• Offer which is expect. عرض مع قبول

• Both parties must intent to enter into legal. كال الطرفین یجب أن تكون لھما النیة في الدخول في العقد

• Both parties must have capacity to enter into contract . یجب إن یكون لكال الطرفین األھلیة للدخول في العقد

• The contract is not made by mistake. لم یتم إنشاء العقد عن طریق الخطأ

• The object of the contract must be legal. ھدف العقد یجب أن ال یكون غیر قانوني

3 - Commercial Custom :

:العرف التجاري This is the most important source of commercial Law, the court will use this source if there is no legislation and there is no agreement.

اك تشریع ولم ھذا ھو أھم مصدر من مصادر القانون التجاري ، والمحكمة ستستخدم ھذا المصدر إذا لم یكن ھن .یكن ھناك اتفاق مكتوب

The commercial Practice must be general, old, stable, continuous.

مستمرة – مستقرة – قدیمة –الممارسة التجاریة یجب إن تكون عامة the difference between the commercial usage (habit) and the commercial custom is that the usage is not considered as binding while the custom is considered as binding by the traders الفرق بین العادة التجاریة والعرف التج اري ھ و أن الع ادة التجاری ة غی ر ملزم ة للتج ار بینم ا الع رف التجاری ة

.یعتبر ملزما للتجار Commercial Custom have two elements:

:للعرف التجاري عنصرین 1 - Material element:

:العنصر المادي This is the rule followed by the traders for a long time.

ھذه ھي القاعدة المتبعة من قبل التجار لفترة زمنیة طویلة 2 - Psychological element :

العنصر السیكولوجي This is the believe by the traders that they are bonded by the rule.

ھذا ھو االعتقاد من قبل التجار بأنھم ملزمون بالقاعدة

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4 - Provisions of the civil Law:

:نصوص القانون المدني Civil law is the source of all other branches of privet law. So if the commercial matter is not government by the commercial law then the provisions of the civil law will apply. القانون المدني ھو المصدر لكل فروع القانون الخاص األخ رى ، ولھ ذا ف إن ك ان األم ر التج اري غی ر خاض ع للقانون التجاري فان نصوص القانون المدني ستطبق علیھ

Chapter (4)

Classifications of Commercial acts We can calcify commercial acts as follow :-

" یمكن أن نصنف األفعال التجاریة كالتالي A- commercial act by nature

األفعال التجاریة بطبیعتھا It includes activities which are commercial by their nature regardless of the person doing them. And they are commercial by nature even if they are done for one time only.

وھي تجاریة بالطبیع ة . ھذا یتضمن األفعال التي ھي تجاریة بطبیعتھا بغض النظر عن الشخص الذي یقوم بھا حتى لو مورست مرة واحد فقط

Examples of such acts are :- مثال على ھذه األفعال

1- Purchase of movables for the purpose of selling of leasing them.

شراء المنقوالت بغرض بیعھا أو تأجیرھا The purchase of goods means the transfer of ownership from one party to another, (from the seller to the buyer) . and the movable thing is a thing that is not fixed and can be moved from one place to another.

والمنقوالت ھي األشیاء التي ) . من البائع إلى المشتري( شراء البضائع یعني انتقال ملكیتھا من طرف إلى آخر لیست ثابتة ویمكن نفلھا من مكان إلى آخر

The Bahraini law state that the purchase must be in exchange of return, so if somebody donate something to other person then this is not considered as purchase because there is no return. القانون البحریني ینص على أن الشراء یجب أن یكون في مقابل عائد ، ولھذا فإذا قام شخص بالتبرع بشي ما

.یعتبر عملیة شراء ألنھ لیس ھناك عائد إلى شخص آخر فان ھذا لن The purchase must be with the intention of re-selling or leasing the items. Otherwise it will not be considered as Commercial act. Also the purchase will be considered as Commercial act regardless whether it will be sold in it's original form or after changing it.

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The act will be considered commercial act if – at the time of purchase – the intention was to resell or lease the items in order to make profit, so if the purchase was made without the intention to make profit then it will be considered as civil act not commercial act, for example if student union buy pens in order to resell them to students at cost price – no profit- then this act will be civil act and not commercial act. 2- lease of movables with the intent to release them. According to the commercial law of Bahrain the act of renting movables with the intention of re-renting it is considered as commercial act. The person renting the movables must prove the intention of re-renting in front of the court. The act will be Commercial act even if the renters make no profit, because in the moment of rent he had the intention of making profit. 3- Establishing of commercial Companies. the Bahraini commercial law defines the company as (a contract where two or more parts agrees to participate in a business with the intention of making profit where each party will put a share of the capital, and the profit or loss will be divided between them.) The Bahrain commercial laws considered the establishing of a company as commercial act regardless of the nature of the company. Article 2 of the commercial companies law state the forms of companies as :-

A- Partnership under a collective name B- Simple commandite partnership C- Association in participation D- Joint stock company E- Commandite company by shares F- Company with limited liability G- Sole proprietorship H- Holding company

4 – Maritime and Air Navigation Acts article 4 of the commercial law of Bahrain provide that “ all activities relating to maritime and air navigation shall be considered as commercial acts” such as:-

1. construction, repair or maintenance of ships and aircrafts

2. purchase, sale, charter of ships and aircrafts with the intention of using them in commercial way

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3. purchase of materials to supply ships and aircrafts

4. sea and air transport

5. loading and unloading operations

6. contracts regarding the employment of staff for ships and aircrafts

7. lending and borrowing

Construction, repair or maintenance of ships and aircrafts According to article 4 theses acts will be considered as commercial acts as long as they are related to commercial navigation, that is if the ship or aircraft are used for personal activities and not for commercial reasons then these acts will be civil acts but if the ship or aircraft is used for commercial activities then these acts will be considered as commercial acts. The law dose not require theses acts to be done in the form of enterprise or as profession to be commercial . Purchase, sale, charter of ships and aircrafts with the intention of using them in commercial way According to article 4/2 these acts if they are made with the intention of making profit. If the purchase of ship or aircraft is for private use then it will not be considered as commercial act but it will be as civil act. If the ships and aircrafts are for commercial use then the Purchase, sale, charter of such shills and aircrafts will be considered as commercial acts. Purchase of materials to supply ships and aircrafts According to article 4/3 of the Bahraini commercial law, the purchase of equipment and materials for the purpose to supply ships and aircraft are considered as commercial acts, if these ships and aircrafts are used for commercial activities. If the purchase of such materials ( such as food, oil, fuel, etc ) are for ships and aircrafts which are used for personal usage then these acts are civil acts.

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Air and sea transport The Bahraini commercial law in article 4/4 consider all acts of transport in sea or air as commercial acts as long as they are made as commercial activities even if they are practiced for one time only. These acts will be considered commercial acts regardless of the person who practice them. Theses acts will be commercial acts for the carrier but not for the passenger B- Commercial act by profession. These act are conceders as Commercial act only if they are practiced as profession. 1- Supply, export and distribution of goods. The Bahraini commerce law state that these acts are commercial acts as long as they are practices as profession The supply means that a person is liable to deliver, on regular basis, goods or services to another party, such as supplying food to hospitals, or raw materials to factories. The export and distribution of goods are considered as commercial acts if they are practiced as profession. 2- Banking operation and many exchanges. According to article 5/7, all acts of banks such as debit or credit transaction, are conceders Commercial acts because they are practices as profession. The bank aim is to make profit and all actions of the bank are conceders Commercial actions even if the bank makes some free service. Money exchange operations are Commercial acts as long they are as profession. So the act of exchanging money between friends and family is not considered as commercial acts because it is not practiced as profession. C – Accessory Commercial Acts. According to articles 6 and 7 of the Bahraini commercial law, the acts that are practiced by the trader are considered commercial acts if they are related to his profession.

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These are civil acts but are considered as commercial acts if they are done by the trader in relation to his business. Such as the insurance contracts According to the Bahraini commercial law , the commercial character will be given to civil acts if :

1. The act is practiced by a trader 2. The act should be related to his commerce

So the acts that are practiced by a trader but are related to his private life are not considered as commercial acts and they will remain as civil acts. These acts are related to the trader obligations which are :-

1. Traders contractual obligations These are the transactions done by the trader for the benefit of his business such as purchase of items for his business, opening accounts for the business etc 2. Traders non – contractual obligations These are obligations resulting from the commercial activities of the trader such as the obligation to pay any damage caused by his employees during work .

Chapter (5) Trader

According to article 9 of the law commerce of Bahrain the trader is:

1. Every person with commercial capacity and who works in commerce in his own name and for his own profit, as profession.

2. Every company established according to the provision of the Bahraini

commercial companies law regardless of it's objects, and it's form.

The commercial companies law give these forms for companies in Bahrain :-

A- Partnership under a collective name B- Simple commandite partnership C- Association in participation D- Joint stock company E- Commandite company by shares F- Company with limited liability

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G- Sole proprietorship H- Holding company

The trader can be natural person or artificial person , for a natural person to have the character of trader the law required these condition. First: professionalism of commercial acts. Professionalism means that the person must practice the Commercial act as profession and must be practiced with

A- rapidity, B- regularly, C- continuously, D- and in order to make a living (as away of making a living)

and the Commercial act must be legal. So the trader character will not be granted to any person how practice Commercial act which are against the law or public order or morality. Finally, the character of the trader will be granted to the person regardless of the size of his capital or his business. Second: professionalism in the name and for the account of a trader. The person who practices Commercial acts must practice them in his name and for his account. So any person who practice Commercial acts in the name of other person or for the account of another person is not a trade, that means all employees who are working in a company or a shop and practicing Commercial acts are not considered as traders, even if they are practicing this act as profession, unless if the worker or employee is director-partner. Third: commercial Capacity Capacity means the ability of a person to do legal acts by himself and have legal rights and liabilities. So the commercial Capacity is the ability of a person to do Commercial activities as profession and bear obligation from these acts. According to the Bahrain commercial Law the, any person in Bahrain - regardless of sex - will have commercial Capacity when he is 18 years or older, and can have the character of trader if he practice commercial activities as profession. However, the commercial Capacity is affected by other things such as the mental ability of a person or other incapacity reasons.

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So the commercial capacity will not be granted to persons how are unable to be reasonable for these acts, also the commercial capacity will not be granted to certain people how have certain jobs such as lawyers, judges, ministers, parliament members etc... This is temporary case regarding their jobs and they will have commercial Capacity once they leave the job. Liability of a minor and distrained person According to article 11/3 of the law of commerce , the minor or distrained persons have limited liability , that mean he is responsible for the debt of the business to the size of his share in the capital and not the all his personal funds

مسؤولیة القاصرین والمحجور علیھم ھذا . من القانون التجاري ، فإن األشخاص القاصرین والمحجور علیھم لھم مسؤولیة محدودة 11/3طبقا للمادة

.لیس إلى ممتلكاتھ الخاصة یعني بأنھ مسؤول عن دین الشركة إلى حجم حصتھ في رأسمال الشركة و Commercial Capacity of foreigner traders According to article 16 of the law commerce in / of Bahrain, the foreign trader is not allowed to do business in Bahrain unless he has a Bahraini partner these Bahraini partner must have 51% or more of the capital. So the Bahraini law does not give equal freedom to the foreign trader to work in commerce in Bahrain that means that the foreign trader capacity is limited. Commercial capacity of GCC nationals The Bahraini law of commerce gave the GCC nationals the same status of Bahraini nationals, that is they can make business in Bahrain if they are 18 years and older, even if they do not have the commercial capacity in their own country , such as the case in Kuwait where persons will have commercial capacity when the reach 21 years of age , such person can have commercial capacity in Bahrain if he reach 18 years of age

األھلیة التجاریة لمواطني دول مجلس التعاون لممنوح ة للم واطن ق انون البح رین التج اري أعط ى لم واطني دول مجل س التع اون الخلیج ي نف س الممی زات ا

حتى – سنة أو اكثر 18 حیث انھم یمكن أن یؤسسون عمال تجاریا في البحرین إذا كانت أعمارھم –البحریني ف ي ن كم ا الحال ة ف ي الكوی ت حی ث یح صل المواطن ون الكویتی و –لو لم یكن لھم مث ل ھ ذه األھلی ة ف ي بل دانھم

عم ر ومث ل ھ ؤالء األش خاص یمك ن أن تك ون لھ م األھلی ة سنة من ال21الكویت على األھلیة التجاریة ببلوغھم سنة من العمر 18التجاریة في البحرین بمجرد بلوغھم

The position of small craftsmen Small craftsmen: according to article 17 of law commerce is ((every person

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who works in occupations that has law capital and small number of workers in order to make certain income in order to make a living)). According to the law such craftsmen are not required to have legal accounting books and they are not required to register in the commercial register, and they are not under the provisions of the commercial Law. So small craftsmen to the civil law, but if the craftsmen expand his business to open a factory and gate more workers than he will be under provisions of the commercial Law.

The legal obligation of a trader 1 – the legal obligation to bear a commercial name trader must have commercial name which is made of his name and his surname and his commercial name must not be registered for another business and must not be misleading the name of the commercial companies will be according to the provisions of the commercial law the name of the business will not change if new partner join the business or if one of the partners leave the business even if his name is in the name of the company as long as this partner agree to keep the name 2 – traders obligation to record his trade name in the commercial registry all traders in Bahrain must register there commercial name in the commercial registry witch will hold the name of the business and all other data regarding the business as mirror too third party. The commercial registry has also a statistics function. All traders must register their business in the commercial registry regardless of their nationality 3 – traders obligation to keep commercial books every trader who has capital more than 10,000 BD must hold commercial books as required by the commercial law the trader must hold at least these books A - basic journal book

this book include details of the commercial daily life of the business where the trader must enter all daily transactions of his business as well as his personal withdrawal

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B - general ledger

this book will contain all accounts transferred from the journal book such as cash ,banks ,partners and expenses

the entries in the commercial books by the traders employee well be considered as being entered by the trader him self all books must be kept for the period of not less than tow years and banks and commercial companies will keep microfilm of the books and documents for five years the traders must comply with the following:

1- commercial books must not have any blanks , deletions , striking off 2- each page of the books must be numbered and signed by the

commercial register

3- after filling the books the trader must present them to the ministry of commerce for verifying them

4- in case of stopping the business the trader must submit the books to

the ministry of trade for verifying this action 5- all actions mentioned above is free of charge

if the trader fail to maintain his books then he will be punished with a fine not les than 100 BD and not more than 1000 BD 4- trader is bound to avoid all sort of unfair competition These means that trader will not do any fraud or cheating in order to make his goods the trader must not give falls information regarding the origin or details of the goods he is selling. The name of the trader must not be used by any other person, and in case the name was used by another person than the third party can claim damage. Also the trader must not induce the workers of another trader to give him information regarding the other trader activities; the trader must not do any act of unfair competition.

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Chapter 6

The General Rules of Commercial Obligations According to the law of commerce in Bahrain the most important rules for the commercial obligations are :-

-:طبقا للقانون التجاري في البحرین فان أھم القواعد الخاصة بااللتزامات التجاریة ھي

1. If the nature of the contract is commercial to one party then the commercial law will apply to all parties of the contract

إذا كانت طبیعة العقد تجاریة لطرف فان القانون التجاري سیطبق على كل أطراف العقد

2. Parties liable for commercial debt will be jointly liable for the debt, unless it is mentioned otherwise in the contract. This means that the debtor can ask any of the creditors to pay the money back and can take legal actions against all or any of the liable persons.

األطراف المسئولون عن الدین التجاري سیكونون مسئولین بصورة جماعیة وتضامنیة عن الدین مالم یذكر -خالفھ في العقد

This will also apply to the guarantee of commercial debts also, so if group pf people jointly guarantee a loan then they will also be jointly liable for the payment of the loan in case of non- payment by the creditor

3. if the trader take a loan for his business then the loan is a commercial

loan and the provisions of the commercial law will apply to it. The interest shall be charged according to the legal rate unless it is agreed otherwise and the interest must not be more than the principal amount of the loan. The interest rate will not apply if the transaction is made in foreign currency

4. according to article 77 of the law of commerce in Bahrain, the traders

authority and claims will not end by his death unless his heirs (الورثة) will state that they do not want to stay in the business and they will not take any liabilities if they inform the concerned parties at proper time

5. if there is a certain date to do a contract and the date has passed

without enforcement by the debtor, then the creditor will not be liable to accept enforcement of the contract.

6. all notice or warnings in commercial matters must be served in

registered letters mail with a delivery notice.

7. all liabilities of the trader in the commercial matter will end after 10 years following the date of the maturity of the such liability

8. commercial books are evidence in legal actions for commercial

matters.