Geneza doctrinară și reperele etimologice ale contractului de factoring comercial: de la instituțiile arhaice de intermediere la patrimonializarea datoriei
Doctrinal genesis and etymology of the commercial factoring contract: from archaic intermediary institutions to the patrimonialization of debt

Summary/Abstract: This evolutionary study analyzes how the debt ceased to be a simple personal and rigid bond, transforming itself into an autonomous and negotiable financial instrument in the business market. The genesis marks the transition from the formalism of Roman law to the flexibility of the Lex Mercatoria rules, giving rise to a complex legal institution that combines mandate, assignment of debt and risk guarantee. In fact, the entire scientific approach is structured in two distinct articles of analysis: the current one, focused on the historical and etymological foundations, and the following article, dedicated to the institutionalization and modern evolution of the commercial factoring contract. The functional roots of factoring appear as early as Mesopotamia, through the sittatu tablets of the Code of Hammurabi, and continue in Roman law through the figure of the instigator or through the Receptum Argentariorum. However, the definitive detachment from traditional borrowing occurred in the Middle Ages. In order to circumvent the Church's prohibitions on interest (De Usura), bankers shifted the emphasis from the price of time to that of risk, inventing factoring without regression through the clause del credere. Subsequently, expansion through the Hanseatic League and the French Ordinance of 1673 enshrined conventional subrogation, giving the factor the status of legal owner of the claims.

• Details
• Contents