國(guó)際商法作為調(diào)整國(guó)際商事關(guān)系的法律規(guī)范的總稱，是有自己特有的調(diào)整對(duì)象的，即國(guó)際商事關(guān)系。所謂國(guó)際商事關(guān)系，是以營(yíng)利為目的的國(guó)際商事主體參與的商品流轉(zhuǎn)關(guān)系，其主體不論是個(gè)人、法人、國(guó)家政府或國(guó)際組織，只要這種商事關(guān)系的當(dāng)事人分屬于兩個(gè)以上不同的國(guó)家或國(guó)際組織，或其所涉及的商事問(wèn)題超越一國(guó)國(guó)界的范圍，這種關(guān)系就可稱之為國(guó)際商事關(guān)系。

As a general term of legal norms regulating international commercial relations, International Business Law has its own specific regulative objects, namely international commercial relations. International commercial relations is commodity circulation relation that is profit-oriented and that international business entities participate in. Whether the entities is individuals, legal persons, the state government or international organizations, as long as the commercial relationship parties respectively belong to two or more different countries or international organizations, or the commercial issues involved more a country, this relationship can be called international commercial relations.

國(guó)際商法的調(diào)整對(duì)象不僅在空間上超越了一個(gè)國(guó)家的國(guó)界，而且在內(nèi)容上也以“商事”為質(zhì)的規(guī)定性，從而決定了國(guó)際商法既不同于以主權(quán)國(guó)家地域內(nèi)的社會(huì)關(guān)系為調(diào)整對(duì)象的國(guó)內(nèi)法體系，也與以國(guó)家之間非商事關(guān)系為調(diào)整對(duì)象的國(guó)際法不同。

Regulative objects of International Business Law not only go beyond a country's borders in space, but also take business affairs as the inherent regularity in content, thus determining the difference between  International Business Law and domestic legal system that takes social relations within sovereign state as regulative objects, and the discrepancy between International Business Law and International Law that takes non-commercial relations among states as regulative objects.

國(guó)際商法是國(guó)家間商事交往發(fā)展到一定規(guī)模后產(chǎn)生的。11世紀(jì)起，隨著歐洲商業(yè)的復(fù)興和發(fā)展，在地中海沿岸出現(xiàn)了一些國(guó)際性的商業(yè)中心城市。這些城市中的商人從封建領(lǐng)主那里買得了自治權(quán)，，組建商人法庭，適用他們?cè)谏淌陆煌行纬傻牧?xí)慣規(guī)則調(diào)整商事交易關(guān)系，由此而形成的法律被稱為“商人法”。

After the business communication among countries developing to a certain scale, International Business Law came into being. From 11th century, with revival and thrive of commerce in Europe, several International commercial centers arose on the Mediterranean coast. Businessmen in this cities bought autonomy right from feudary, formed merchants’ court and applied the custom rule shaped in the commercial intercourse to adjust the commercial transaction relationship. The laws coming into being in this process is called Merchant Law.

后來(lái)，隨著歐洲航海貿(mào)易的發(fā)展，商人法逐步擴(kuò)及到西班牙、法國(guó)、德國(guó)、英國(guó)等國(guó)家，實(shí)際上成了商人在歐洲各地港口或城市用以調(diào)整他們之間經(jīng)濟(jì)貿(mào)易活動(dòng)的法律和國(guó)際慣例。

After that, with the development of European ocean trade, Merchant Law gradually spread to countries, including Spain, France, Germany, and British, turning into the laws and international conventions that businessmen used in ports or cities across Europe to adjust financial and trade activities among them.