Logistics is a unified process consisting of: the object of supply (materials, devices, equipment), activities (determining needs, delivery, distribution), and functions (organizing, planning, execution, control). Although the above definition is strictly economic, all the processes described within it are regulated by legal provisions. Law in logistics does not function as a separate branch of law, but is a conglomerate of issues belonging to various branches of law, mainly civil and administrative law (with reference to even smaller systematic units, e.g., transport law). The application of legal regulations functioning within individual branches of law requires knowledge of the principles that govern these disciplines. Thus, in civil law, one can point to the validity of the following principles:
1. equality of all citizens before the law,
2. autonomy of the will of the parties (natural and legal persons may independently shape the legal relations to which they become parties), which is linked to the principle of freedom of contract, allowing parties to civil law relations to shape their content within the broad limits set by law,
3. protection of good faith, securing the interests of one who acts under a mistaken but justified belief regarding the rights of the entity from whom they acquire a right,
4. civil liability for debts, according to which the debtor – as a rule – is liable for their obligations with their entire assets; legal provisions may provide for exceptions in this regard,
5. liability for damage, meaning that whoever has caused damage is obliged to repair it,
6. protection of property,
7. freedom of contract (see: point 2).
On the other hand, it also becomes necessary to take into account the specificity of administrative law, i.e., the branch of law that regulates relations between public administration bodies and between these bodies and citizens (and other entities not subordinate to the administration). The bond connecting a citizen with a public administration body is specific. The body, by virtue of an administrative decision (e.g., transport permits or licenses), can, as it were, “impose its will on the addressee.” However, it should be noted that public administration acts solely on the basis of the law, in cases expressly indicated by legal norms.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 5/2004.