Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2016

The Construction of Legal Relations in Online Trading

(Abstract)

Yang Lixin

The legal relations in trading through online trading platforms are forms of civil law expressed in “Internet + trading,” made up of a legal relations aggregate formed by a complex set of legal relations. It involves three basic interrelated legal relations: the two sets of contractual relations between the online trading platform provider and the sellers, service providers and consumers and the online trading platform provider, and the sale/purchase or service contract relationship between the seller, the service provider and the consumer; five major contents, namely provision of trading space, publication of trading information, payment held in trust, distribution and delivery of goods, and transaction credit rating; and three auxiliary legal relations, i.e., the three auxiliary contract relations established to actualize the main content of basic online trading platform legal relations, namely the relations between the online trading platform provider on the one hand and a third party payment agency and a third party credit reporting agency respectively on the other, plus the relations between the seller and the logistics enterprise. On the basis of the online trading platform service contractual relations between the provider of the online trading platform and the sellers, service providers and consumers, the flow of the above-mentioned legal relations, centering on sale/purchase contracts or service contracts between sellers, service providers and consumers, fulfils the purpose of online trading, satisfies society’s needs and promotes economic development.