Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this practical analysis of the law covering merchants' status and obligations – including the laws governing state intervention in economic activities – in Spain provides quick and easy guidance on such commercial and economic matters as business assets, negotiable instruments, commercial securities, and regulation of the conditions of commercial transactions. Lawyers who handle transnational business will appreciate the explanation of local variations in terminology and the distinctive concepts that determine practice and procedure. Starting with a general description of the specifically applicable concepts and sources of commercial law, the book goes on to discuss such factors as obligations of economic operators and institutions, goodwill, broker/client relations, commercial property rights, and bankruptcy. Discussion of economic law covers the laws governing establishment, supervision of economic activities, competition law, and government taxation incentives. These details are presented in such a way that readers who are unfamiliar with specific terms and concepts in varying contexts will fully grasp their meaning and significance. Thorough yet practical, this convenient volume is a valuable tool for business executives and their legal counsel with international interests. Lawyers representing parties with interests in Spain will welcome this very useful guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its value in the study of comparative commercial and economic law.

Social security systems are experiencing a profound change all over Europe, due to internal as well as to external reasons, such as changes in society, in the labor markets, and globalization. The normative dimension of these changes is often overlooked. This book takes the first step in filling the gap, concentrating on security as a general principle of European social security law (GPSoc), explaining what this principle means and how it works. The book reflects the way in which legal comparison can be used to gain a better understanding of social security law. It brings together detailed reports from 14 European countries and analyzes the effects of security on legislative, as well as on administrative, action. It not only provides detailed information about the institutions and the instruments through which social security works in practice, but also offers a better understanding of its normative basis. This basis is fundamental. It explains the role which social security plays in modern societies, since it is, after all, a core element of the Nation State which holds these societies together in times in which they can no longer be based on religion or social class.