Commercial law

The expression ‘commercial law’ covers a vast range of legal concepts and their application. Central to the idea of commercial law is trade, whether in goods or services and whether international or domestic. The parties often stand in their relation to one another as seller and buyer and of course the central concern of the seller is to collect payment. In the course of any particular transaction the parties may take steps to allocate risk and protect against it through, for example, insurance, and steps may be taken to protect against failure in payment whether by retaining property, taking security or otherwise.

The sources of the law are diverse and include trade usage and custom, individually negotiated contractual terms, domestic statute and European law and international treaties and agreements together with relevant principles of private international law.

Members of chambers at all levels practise in this area and consequently there is great depth of experience in dealing with complex commercial disputes. Members have appeared, for example, in the Iranian Assets litigation and the International Tin litigation. Chambers offers a team of practitioners experienced in all Commercial Court litigation and in arbitration and the application of international codes. Silks who specialise in this area have also frequently appeared and advised in overseas jurisdictions, particularly Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Caribbean and Bermuda.