Business courts, sometimes referred to as commercial courts, are specialized courts for legal cases involving commercial law, internal business disputes, and other matters affecting businesses. At the trial court level, these courts may primarily or exclusively adjudicate internal business disputes and/or commercial litigation between businesses, heard before specialist judges assigned to these courts. They may have broader or narrower jurisdiction, for example patent or admiralty jurisdiction; and jurisdiction may vary between countries. Business courts may be further specialized, as in those that decide technology disputes and those that weigh appeals. Alternative dispute resolution and arbitration have connections to business courts.
Description Generally, business courts and commercial courts are specialized courts for cases involving commercial law, internal business disputes, and other matters affecting businesses. It has been said that "Any definition of a business court is, in the end, a bit of a compromise".
Types of jurisdictional models The scope of any individual commercial court's jurisdiction over the types of cases heard may vary between countries, and there is not a single model followed in all countries or necessarily even in different regions within a country. "The common element is that business or trade activity is involved". A commercial court may be a distinct court or a subdivision of an existing civil court. The scope of a commercial court's case type jurisdiction may be exhaustively defined or may be more generally indicated.
An individual business court's scope and nature may be set by means such as jurisdictional monetary minimum amounts in dispute, qualitative requirements such as the complexity of a case, and/or defining jurisdiction in a rule or statute that lists specific case types that fall within the business court's jurisdiction. For example, the Irish Commercial Court, a part of the High Court, generally requires that commercial disputes involve at least €1 million. The specialist Commercial Court in Victoria, Australia sets out a list of case types in defining its jurisdiction, and describes itself as managing "a diverse range of complex commercial disputes". The American state of Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program includes a requirement that a case before it "presents commercial or technological issues of such a complex or novel nature that specialized treatment is likely to improve the administration of justice". Ontario, Canada's Superior Court of Justice Commercial List includes a jurisdictional list of case types that do not expressly mention commercial disputes between business entities, but does include a general provision for "such other commercial matters as the Commercial List Team Lead may direct to be listed on the Commercial List".
The Business and Property Courts of England and Wales include distinct specialized courts or lists for admiralty, insolvency, and patents, which in the United States would typically be subject to jurisdiction in federal tribunals, such as the United States Bankruptcy Courts or the United States District Courts, and not in specialized state trial level business courts; while the Commercial Court of England and Wales hears commercial claims akin to American business courts.
In United States' business courts (which are distinctly established in individual states and are not nationwide), in virtually all cases the jurisdiction of the court to hear certain cases is limited to disputes that are in some way related to business or commercial disputes, and generally fall into two categories: (1) those courts which require that cases have an additional complexity component; and (2) those courts which establish jurisdictional parameters (i) through a defined list of case types (ii) combined with a specified minimum amount of damages in controversy, irrespective of complexity. There are mixed models as well, with some mandatory case type categories specifically listed, and other discretionary types requiring an element of complexity.
Technology disputes & cyber courts In the United States and internationally, "[t]he notion of specialized courts to decide technology disputes has a rich history with noteworthy milestones". In the United States, some states have established specialized business and commercial courts that include technology disputes as part of their express jurisdiction. Singapore's International Commercial Court includes a Technology, Infrastructure, and Construction List. The Commercial Court within Ireland's High Court has an Intellectual Property and Technology division. The Victoria, Australia Commercial Court expressly includes jurisdiction over "Proceedings relating to technology, engineering and/or construction...." The DIFC Courts Technology and Construction Division has jurisdiction over, among other things, "claims relating to the design, supply and/or installation of computers, computer software and related network and information technology systems and services...."
Some jurisdictions emphasized the idea that newly created business courts would make use of cutting-edge technologies in handling business litigation, becoming so-called "cyber courts".
The use of technology in case management may be especially apt in international commercial courts, with litigation between parties from different nations. For example, the ADGM Courts in Abu Dhabi self-describe as "the world's first end-to-end, fully digital courts platform...."
International business and commercial courts The term international commercial court can refer to a forum for adjudicating disputes between parties from different nations. The Commercial Court in London is the preeminent court forum for resolving disputes between parties from different nations; but its competition has grown. In the 21st century there has been a steady growth of countries providing such international tribunals, in the Gulf Region, Asia, and Europe; and in the United States (New York's Commercial Division).
History of business and commercial court creation and development
The creation and development of specialized business and commercial courts goes back centuries. Within the Holy Roman Empire, there were German merchant courts in the early 16th century. There were Dutch courts specific to adjudicating some types of commercial disputes at least by the early 17th century (such as insurance and maritime issues). Paris had a Merchant Court (Juridiction Consulaire) in the 18th century. The Ottoman Empire developed commercial courts in the 19th century that included, among other tribunals, Mixed Commercial Courts to hear commercial disputes between Ottoman citizens and foreign citizens, with a judiciary consisting of both Ottoman and foreign judges. The current Commercial Court serving England and Wales was first established in 1895 to expeditiously adjudicate business and commercial disputes in London, before judges who were knowledgeable and experienced in such matters. In the United States, the Delaware Court of Chancery began distinguishing itself as a business court in the first half of the 20th Century. The modern creation of specialized business courts in the United States began in the early 1990s, and has expanded greatly in the last thirty years, as has the growth of specialized business and commercial courts in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe.
Business courts by country
There are business and commercial courts in numerous countries. Each court's business or commercial subject matter jurisdiction may have broad or narrow focus, for example a court that solely has patent or admiralty jurisdiction vs. a court that may adjudicate a broad range of commercial case types. Jurisdiction may vary between countries. For example, business and commercial courts exist in the following countries or regions: England and Wales, United States, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Alberta, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Hong Kong, Belgium, Bermuda, Queensland and Victoria (Commercial Court), Australia, New Zealand (Commercial Panel), Northern Ireland, Spain, in France (where the commercial courts are not divisions of other civil courts, but are autonomous), Switzerland, Austria, Tanzania, Rwanda, Lesotho, South Africa, the British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Cayman Islands, Guyana, India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Kenya, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, and Croatia.
United Kingdom The Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, located in the Rolls Building, encompass 13 different courts or lists, for example, the Commercial Court, the Business List, and the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. One object of creating this consolidated forum for the business and commercial courts of England and Wales was to maintain the international preeminence of their courts for dispute resolution.
In 2023, 40% of London's Commercial Court cases involved opposing parties from different nations, and 64% involved a mix of UK parties and international parties. There is a view that the more recently created commercial courts designed to hear disputes between parties of different nations will compete with the London-based commercial courts as the preferred litigation forum for international commercial disputes. In 2017, New York's Commercial Division added a "Large Complex Case List", modeled on the Business and Property Courts' Financial List for high stakes commercial litigation, as part of an overall effort to compete with the London-based commercial courts as a preferred forum for international litigation.
United States
Business courts in the United States are almost always trial level courts that primarily or exclusively adjudicate internal business disputes and/or commercial litigation between businesses, heard before specialist judges assigned to these courts. They have been established in approximately twenty-seven states. In some instances, a state legislature may choose to create a business court by statute. In other circumstances, business courts have been established by judicial rule or order, at the state supreme court or trial court level. Georgia created a statewide business court by constitutional amendment. The modern creation of specialized business courts in the United States began in the early 1990s, and has expanded greatly in the last thirty years.
In addition to business courts, a number of jurisdictions have created specialized complex litigation programs; establishing a specialist tribunal based on procedural complexity and difficulties, rather than subject matter. However, these complex litigation programs can overlap with business courts. Former Orange County Complex Litigation Program judge Gail A. Andler is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges (ACBCJ), and a number of California's complex litigation judges (including judge Elihu Berle), and Minnesota complex litigation judge Jerome B. Abrams, have served as Business Court Representatives to the American Bar Association's Section of Business Law. Abrams also was a 2023-2024 vice president of the ACBCJ. Berle is also a current officer of the ACBCJ (as of May 2024), has spoken at its judicial education programs, and participated in its first meeting in 2005.American College of Business Court Judges, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, Judicial Education Program, Washington, D.C., Advanced Law and Economics Institute, October 30 - November 1, 2005, Judicial Participant List
English-language courts outside of the United States and England