Mission

The Journal of the Law of the Financial System, markets, operators and contracts (hereinafter JLFS) was created to be the first transversal journal to integrate contributions from each of these sectors. While there are several journals that are already consolidated in the market, all of them curtail their subject matter to just a section of the financial system. However, there is a growing appreciation of the integrated nature of the financial markets and of the interdependence of its operators. The problems faced by the financial markets must be tackled from a transversal perspective in order to offer an all-encompassing vision.

The holistic approach adopted by the JLFS cannot be circumscribed by a single area of legal study, and while Banking law, Insurance Law and the Law of the Stock Market have long been fertile fields of research for scholars of Commercial Law, other approaches ought not to be disdained. It should be sufficient to mention the growing importance of institutions, traditionally the preserve of scholars of Administrative Law, the undeniably international character of markets, which has inspired innumerable studies by scholars of International Law; or the Civil Law perspective, which has provided us with enriching studies on questions of transcendental importance such as consumer and data protection. Obviously the Journal cannot hope to be exhaustive, but only to show the expediency, in the case of a publication with the ambition of providing an integrated vision of the financial system, of creating a forum for legal scholars that approach the topic with rigour, regardless of their specific fields of expertise.

The JLFS originated in the Spanish University system, and, as a consequence, it hopes to offer the strengths of that system: original solutions to the problems under consideration, methodological rigour and robust conclusions. However, the Journal’s founders have always believed that the University should be open to outside influences. The term “outside” is used here in two senses: as we contend that Spanish Universities should be both a meeting point for academia and professional practices, and a point of communication for the law of other jurisdictions. Consequently, the JLFS is determined to integrate contributions from legal practitioners, and to publish papers that relate the most significant developments taking place in other jurisdictions, particularly Latin America, Europe and the U.S.A.

Vision

The JLFS aims to become, in the short term, the leading periodical publication on the Law of the Financial System published in Spanish to be targeted at legal practitioners and academics. In the longer term, the journal aspires to consolidate its position among the principal publications on the subject globally, aiming for distribution throughout Latin America and the states of the European Union, without renouncing the goal of reaching other markets.

Our objective is to place the JLFS on the foremost indexing indices (WOS and SCOPUS), an achievement which would undoubtedly augment the prestige of the publication. Furthermore, we hope that the JLFS will serve to generate a network of collaborators encompassing academics, supervising entities, judges, legal practitioners and market operators, that will act as a catalyst for future initiatives.

The journal shall organise a bi-annual international conference which we believe should help to promote the creation and consolidation of this network.