‘Firm’ [Firma] in the Meaning of Polish Legal Language: The Business Name under which the Entrepreneur Operates in Legal and Economic Transactions, or an Entrepreneur [Przedsiębiorca]? Selected Comments on the (Un) Reasonableness of the Use of the Word ‘Firm’ [Firma] in Various Substantive Meanings

Abstract

This article presents selected observations relating to the reasonableness of using the word ‘firm’ [Polish: firma] in various substantive meanings in Polish legal language. First, attention is drawn to the basic meaning of the word ‘firm’ [firma] in Polish legal language as a business name under which an entrepreneur [przedsiębiorca] operates in legal transactions, which is synthetically (briefly) distinguished from the meaning in Polish legal language, especially of the word ‘entrepreneur’ [przedsiębiorca]. It is then pointed out that in Polish legal and non-legal language, especially in everyday language and in the specialist language of economics and finance, as well as in management and quality sciences (including the language of practice of these areas of knowledge), a different meaning of the word ‘firm’ [firma] is adopted: while in Polish legal language it is understood as the business name of an entrepreneur, in the non-legal language of the above-mentioned areas it is understood as meaning an entrepreneur (also in the context of the meaning given to it in selected foreign languages). This is the background for pointing to the use of the word ‘firm’ [firma] in Polish legal language in the early 21st century not to define the business names of entrepreneurs conducting a strictly defined economic activity, but in a different sense – to define these entrepreneurs by introducing the concepts of an investment firm [firma inwestycyjna], a foreign investment firm [zagraniczna firma inwestycyjna] and an audit firm [firma audytorska], assessing these legislative changes as a significant systemic inconsistency and formulating conclusions in this regard.