•ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF LAW
BASIC CONCEPTS OF LAW
PP Presentation for the 6. Lecture
Kutluhan Bozkurt
Dr. Iur.
LL.M. Eur. (Munich)
© Basic Concepts of Law, Istanbul University, Faculty of
Law, PP presentation by K. Bozkurt
FIFT TOPIC:
BRANCHES OF LAW
STRUCTURE OF THE 6. LECTURE
 Vocabulary
 General information: Definition and explanation
 Sub-branches of private law
 Law of Obligations
 Commercial Law
 International Private Law
 Labour Law
 Civil Procedure Law
 Dept Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law
© Basic Concept of Law, Istanbul University , Faculty of Law, PP presentation by K. Bozkurt
Literature for the 6. lecture
• Literature: R. Aybay; An Introduction to Law, IBU Press, K.
Güven; General Principles of Turkish Law, Bilge 2007, T.
Ansay & D. Wallece JR; Introduction to Turkish Law, Kluwer
2011, E. Adal; Fundamentals of Turkish Private Law, Legal,
2004, K. Gözler; Hukukun Temel Kavramları, Ekin 2011, A.
Güriz; Hukuk Başlangıcı, Siyasal 2006.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_law
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_law
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_law
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_obligations
• http://www.asil.org/erg/?page=pil
Vocabulary list part 1 :
• pronounced,
involved,
Greek
philosophy,
philosopher(s), Jus Publicumpublic law, Jus
Privatum-private law, to be distinguished, broadly,
individual(s), regulatory statutes, criminal – penal
law, interrelation(s), emphasized, private and public
law, individuals (ius commune), political and
administrative capacity, organization and the
limitations of official power, general provisions, law
of persons, family law, law of property, law of
inheritance, obligation law, commercial law.
Vocabulary list part 2:
• business
enterprise,
business
association
(commercial companies), securities (commercial
papers), transport law, maritime law, insurance law,
literary rights- IPR-, labour law, civil procedure law,
debt enforcement and bankruptcy law, constitional
law, administrative law, law of administrative
procedure,penal-criminal law and its general and
special provisions, tax law, ciminal procedure law,
environmental law, natural and private moral legal
persons, law of person.
Vocabulary list part 3:
• Civil code, family law, law of inheritance (succession),
law of property, objective good fait (-bona fides-),
subjective good faith, equal capacity for having rights
and duties, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, legal rights or capacity, birth, meaning of “to
be alive”, a single breath to be taken and be given
out, possession of personality, legal personality,
companies, corporations, foundations, associations,
artificial personalities, attributed.
Vocabulary list part 4:
• the subject of rights and “generality” and “equality”,
conversely terminate its legal personality, legal
transactions, maintain harmony and peace in
domestic relations, engagement, marriage and
divorce, legal consequences of marriage and divorce,
parent-child relations and/or domestic relations in
general
adoption,
guardianship,
filiation,
“perturbatio sanguinis”.
Civil Law-Definition and explanations :
 d) Law of inheritance (succession):
• The concept of inheritance is the transfer of the
properties, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon
the death of an individual. It also represents the
passage of genetic characteristics.
• The term of “inheritance” has long played an
important role in human societies. Of course the
rules of inheritance have differed between societies
and have changed over time.
Definition and explanations :
• The Law of Inheritance (succession) is
regulated by the articles 495-682 of the Civil
Code.
• Thus, the fourth chapter/book of the Turkish
Civil Law deals with the Law of inheritance,
and contains rules concerning the transfer of a
person’s property rights to successors after
his/her death.
Definition and explanations :
• Accordingly, after a person dies, law continues to
regulate and to determine his/her relations with the
mortal and material world.
• Inheritance rights can be described as the ordinary,
basic and natural outcome of blood relations
between kinship.
• According to Turkish Civil Law and more specifically
the Law of Inheritance, upon the death of a person,
his/her entire estate passes to his/her legal heirs.
Definition and explanations :
• e) Law of Property:
• Rights can be classified in Civil Law as personal
property rights and real rights. The Law of Property
encloses whole rights on property.
• The law of Property governs the various forms of
ownership and tenancy in real property (in land as
distinct from personal or movable possessions) and
in personal property, within a given legal system.
Definition and explanations :
• With reference to the civil law system, there is
a division between movable and immovable
property. While movable property roughly
corresponds to personal property, immovable
property corresponds to real estate or real
property, and the associated rights and
obligations thereon.
Definition and explanations :
• In Turkish Legal System, the Law of Property is
regulated by articles 683-1027 of the Civil
Code and property rights constitute one of the
main structures and institutions of the Civil
Law.
• Thus, the Law of Property deals with real
rights that may be claimed against everybody.
Definition and explanations :
• It includes the acquisition and the loss of property
rights, the content and the limits of rights on
movable and immovable things and the transfer of
property.
• Other important concepts in relation with property
law are title deed, registration, mortgages, servitudes
(irtifak hakları), usufruct (intifa), ownership, coownership, possession (zilyetlik), land registry, etc.
2- Law of Obligations:
• Law of obligations is another important field of the
private law. It includes;
• I- obligations under contracts; both innominate and
nominate
• II- transactions,
• III- torts,
• IV- unjust enrichment
• V- management of property etc.
2- Law of Obligations:
• Law of Obligations seeks to determine and
organize the voluntary and semi-voluntary
legal exchange available between moral and
real persons.
• For that reason, the fundamental object of the
Law of Obligations is the notion of
“obligation” which encloses basically legal
transactions, torts and unjust enrichments.
2- Law of Obligations:
• In 1926, Swiss Code of Obligations was adopted by
Turkey and recently Turkey has been accepted a new
Code of Obligations which also was affected by Swiss
Code of Obligations. The new code came into force
on 1 July 2012.
• The new code has new regulations and structure and
this is because of the development process of life.
The change was necessary because the ex-code
could not satisfy the needs of today’s society in the
field of Civil Law and of Law of Obligations.
2- Law of Obligations:
• Law of Obligations has some fundamental principles
which are followings:
• I- The first –main- principle of the Law of Obligations
is the free discretion of the participants of a legal
transaction.
• II- The free discretion should not be used against
public order, codes, moral and ethics. In other words,
the free discretion is subject to restrictions,
prescribed only by law.
2- Law of Obligations:
• III- Law of Obligations deals with relative or
subjective rights.
• IV- The Code of Obligations is based on a
legislation activity but it is not based on cases.
• V- Equality and equity are fundamental
principles of the Law of Obligations.
2- Law of Obligations:
• As indicated above, the main element of the
Law of Obligations is the notion of
“obligation”, which can be divided into three
groups with respect to its origin:
2- Law of Obligations:
• I- Contractual obligations:
• These are based on an agreement that is
enforceable by law and determines mutual
rights between contractual parties. Contract
law includes general rules on contracts and
rules on special types of contracts. Special
types of contracts are “sale, exchange
(trampa), suretyship (kefalet), deposit
(vedia/emanet), rent, employment” etc.
2- Law of Obligations:
• II- Tort obligations:
• For this kind of obligations, the notion of tort
is the main element and important parameter
of the obligation. Tort, unlike contractual
relationship, is not based on a voluntary –free
agreement between parties. The existence of
a tort (such as damages, accidents etc.) is
necessary for an obligation to arise from this
ground.
2- Law of Obligations:
• III- Obligations of unjust enrichment:
• This concept is an important legal term of Law
of Obligations according to which a party who
is unjustly enriched at the expense of another
is under the obligation to make restitution.
3- Commercial Law:
• First of all, Commercial Law encloses very
wide areas and the term consists of distinct
sub-branches.
• Turkish Commercial Law is regulated by the
Commercial Code, which has been recently
changed. The new code came into force on 1
July 2012.
3- Commercial Law:
• The new Commercial Code has a lot of new
regulations and offers new perspectives.
• Turkish Commercial Law is affected by the
Swiss and German legal systems. Therefore
there are a lot of similarities between Turkish
Commercial Code and German and Swiss Legal
Systems.
3- Commercial Law:
• As explained before, the economy is an important
global actor in today’s world and commercial
activities should be considered as very important
parameters for the economy.
• Thus, commercial law is one of the most important
and indispensable parts of civil law. In this respect,
commercial law consists of the body of rules that
applies to the rights, relationships, conduct of
persons engaged in business.
3- Commercial Law:
• As pronounced above, Commercial law is a
part of civil law although it deals with issues of
both private law and public law.
• The new commercial code has an introductory
chapter (articles 1-10) and which submit the
general principles of commercial law.
3- Commercial Law:
• The new commercial code consists of six
“books” and an additional chapter which
contains the “last provisions” (articles 15211535).
• The six “books” of the commercial code are
followings:
3- Commercial Law:
• I. Book is on “commercial enterprise”, articles 11123.
• II. Book is on “commercial partnership” –
“commercial companies”, articles 124-644.
• III. Book is on “commercial papers”- “negotiable
instruments”, articles 645-849.
• IV. Book is on “transport business/law”, articles 850930.
• V. Book is on “maritime law”, articles 931-1400.
• VI. Book is on “insurance law”, articles 1401-1520.
3- Commercial Law:
• In addition, there is an important relation between
Commercial law and Obligation law. Because of this,
the Commercial Code and the Code of obligations
complement each other.
• Literary rights or intellectual property rights are also
a part of Civil law and there is an important relation
between literary rights/ intellectual property rights
and commercial law. The new commercial code deals
with IPR as well and brings new regulations on this
matter.
4- International Private Law:
• International private law is the branch of law
which specifically deals with the “conflict of
law” problems.
• It is the body of national laws, legal guides,
conventions, model laws and other
documents and materials that regulate private
relationships across national borders.
4- International Private Law:
• First of all, private international law has got a
dualistic character; first, it balances
international consensus with domestic
recognition and implementation and second it
balances sovereign actions with those of the
private sector.
4- International Private Law:
• The “conflict of laws” occurs between laws
belonging to different states.
• The “conflict of laws” necessitates a set of
procedural rules that determines both the
competent jurisdiction and the applicable law.
• International private law has mainly three
distinct categories which are followings:
4- International Private Law:
• I) Conflict of Laws:
• In this category, the determination of the
applicable law plays an important role. This is
the determination of which state’s law will
apply to a given legal dispute. The court
decides in a given case, which state’s
substantive law to be applied.
4- International Private Law:
• II) Law of Nationality:
• The law of nationality which may be applied
to solve a given legal problem plays an
important role in making the choice of the
applicable law.
4- International Private Law:
• III) Law of Aliens (Foreigners):
• In this category, rights accorded by the State to a
person who does not have any nationality are
regulated.
• International private law has a sui generis character,
which conveys to it the characteristic of private and
public law.
• Therefore it can be also named as compound laws.
• In Turkey, international private law is regulated by
International Private Code.
5-Labor Law:
• As a consequence of the industrial revolution
and the development of capitalism after the
end of 18th century, labor law entered in legal
life.
• Labor law is one of the most important
branches of the civil law in 21st century,
because more than 2 -3 billion humans work
as worker in the world.
5-Labor Law:
• According to some authors, Labor law has a
mixed character and for that reason it is a part
of public law.
• Basically labor law organizes the relations
between employer and employee and the
quality -standard of the labor law is quite
essential for social justice and social state
5-Labor Law:
• Labor Law is also important for syndical rights,
such as syndical freedom, which is a
fundamental part of labor law.
• The rights and obligations of employers and
employees are regulated by the articles of the
Labor Code.
5-Labor Law:
• In addition, there is an international organization
that focuses on Labor matters. International Labor
Organization (ILO) is a governing body where
representatives of workers and employers can be
alongside with the government delegates.
• Labor rights deal with labor agreements, collective
labor agreements, regulations on salary, vacation,
occupational safety, maternity rights, syndical rights,
rescissions, etc.
6-(Civil) Procedure Law:
• First of all, procedure is an essential element
for laws and codes, but also for law systems.
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out
the rules and standards that courts should
follow when adjudicating civil lawsuitsactions.
6-(Civil) Procedure Law:
• Without civil procedure law and the Civil Procedure
Code, law would not work and there could not be
any justice. So the civil procedure law is one of the
important branches of civil law. It can be called as a
fundamental structure of the civil law.
• The Law of Procedure is the body, practicing of rights
that are prescribed by the rules of substantive laws.
It is a formal law and for that reason it has a sui
generis character.
6-(Civil) Procedure Law:
• The rules of civil procedure govern how a
lawsuit/action or case may be initiated, what
or which kind of service of process is required,
types of pleadings or statements of case,
motions or applications.
6-(Civil) Procedure Law:
• The rules of civil procedure also govern timing
and manner of depositions and discovery or
disclosure, competences of courts, the
conduct of trials, the process for judgment,
various available remedies etc.
• The Law of Procedure is regulated via Civil
Procedure Code, which came into force
recently. The new Civil Procedure Code has a
lot of new processes and regulations.
7-Debt Collections, Enforcement and
Bankruptcy Law:
• Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy law is a
special part of civil law, but it has also public
law characters. Therefore Debt Enforcement
and Bankruptcy Law is a mixed system of civil
and public laws.
7-Debt Collections, Enforcement and
Bankruptcy Law:
• Because of global economical crisis there are a
lot of problems or cases in relation with the
debt enforcement and bankruptcy law.
• Debt enforcement (Incasso) and bankruptcy
law is regulated via Debt Enforcement and
Bankruptcy Code.
Repetition Vocabulary list part 1 :
• pronounced,
involved,
Greek
philosophy,
philosopher(s), Jus Publicumpublic law, Jus
Privatum-private law, to be distinguished, broadly,
individual(s), regulatory statutes, criminal – penal
law, interrelation(s), emphasized, private and public
law, individuals (ius commune), political and
administrative capacity, organization and the
limitations of official power, general provisions, law
of persons, family law, law of property, law of
inheritance, obligation law, commercial law.
Repetition Vocabulary list part 2:
• business
enterprise,
business
association
(commercial companies), securities (commercial
papers), transport law, maritime law, insurance law,
literary rights- IPR-, labour law, civil procedure law,
debt enforcement and bankruptcy law, constitional
law, administrative law, law of administrative
procedure,penal-criminal law and its general and
special provisions, tax law, ciminal procedure law,
environmental law, natural and private moral legal
persons, law of person.
Repetition Vocabulary list part 3:
• Civil code, family law, law of inheritance (succession),
law of property, objective good fait (-bona fides-),
subjective good faith, equal capacity for having rights
and duties, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, legal rights or capacity, birth, meaning of “to
be alive”, a single breath to be taken and be given
out, possession of personality, legal personality,
companies, corporations, foundations, associations,
artificial personalities, attributed.
Repetition Vocabulary list part 4:
• the subject of rights and “generality” and “equality”,
conversely terminate its legal personality, legal
transactions, maintain harmony and peace in
domestic relations, engagement, marriage and
divorce, legal consequences of marriage and divorce,
parent-child relations and/or domestic relations in
general
adoption,
guardianship,
filiation,
“perturbatio sanguinis”.
CONCLUSION
• ANY QUESTION(S)???
• YOUR COMMENTS
• THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !!!
• SEE YOU AT THE NEXT LECTURE