The legal form of the right to credit, the conceptual nature of the right to credit

German Civil Code

Although credit has appeared in Roman law as early as Roman law, there is no real sense of credit corresponding to credit in Roman law, and it is only with the development of the commodity economy that the right of credit has been established in modern law, such as Article 824 of the German Civil Code, which stipulates: "A person who violates the truth or disseminates facts suitable to interfere with the credit of others or cause disadvantage to the livelihood or future of others, even if he does not know it, should still compensate others for the damage caused thereby." ”

From the basic constituent elements and characteristics of credit, it is not difficult to see that the essence of credit right is a combination of personality rights and property rights, or more precisely, a personality right with the nature of property rights.

First of all, the right to credit has a distinct personality character. This kind of personality not only refers to ethical and moral personality, but also rises from ethical morality to legal personality, and legalizes moral rules, so the right to credit is both moral and legal.

Second, the right to credit is both property. The property nature of credit does not exist from the time it appears, but is highlighted with the continuous development of society. The personality of credit is closely related to the property and capital he owns, and in the interaction of modern society, it is not enough to judge the credit status of the other party only on the basis of his moral character, but must be based on his property capital.

Again, the right to credit also implies responsibility. In the course of the transaction, one party will consider the other party's personality and integrity, whether it is honest and reliable, but in the end, it will bear legal liability according to its property status and ability to pay. Therefore, the right to credit should be embodied in law as a personality right with the nature of a property right, and this right must be protected by law.

In the civil rights system, the right to credit is a credit interest protected by law, and it is an intangible property right that is different from ownership, creditor's rights, intellectual property rights and personal rights. On the basis of a comparative study of legislative precedents, this paper puts forward a suggestion to give them direct protection, that is, to confirm the independent status of the right to credit in civil legislation. "Business credit" refers to the general term for the economic capabilities of civil entities in business activities, such as business qualifications, business advantages, and business reputation.

Under the conditions of market economy, credit interests continue to expand from spiritual value to property value, and become a new type of intangible property right that is related to and different from the right of creative achievements and the right of distinguishing mark.

The above two forms of protection are subject to different legal provisions and have different legal consequences, reflecting the different legislative orientations adopted by various countries on the form of rights of credit interests. In the author's opinion, it is appropriate to directly protect the right to credit for the following reasons: The rights created by it are not binding on third parties, but the credit interests enjoyed by the parties to the credit relationship should be respected by others.

In other words, the creditor's rights in the relationship between the credit grantor and the fiduciary are against the counterparty's right to claim, and the credit grantor's or fiduciary's right to its own credit is a kind of hereditary right that can be claimed against anyone. That is to say, the subject of the credit right may, like the owner and the owner of the personality right, have the right to exclude the illegal infringement of others other than the subject (including natural persons and legal persons). If the infringer is limited to a competing business operator, this is tantamount to declaring other infringing acts as legal acts, which will inevitably lead to the harmful consequences of inadequate protection of credit interests.

The economic capacity of the civil subject is the corresponding trust and evaluation obtained in the society, and the personality rights to be maintained and maintained. Natural and legal persons, who are civil subjects, enjoy the right to credit in accordance with law, and no one else may unlawfully infringe upon it, nor can credit reporting agencies infringe upon this right.