EUROPEAN NORMATIVE LEGAL CONCEPT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE: ENGINEERING USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONCEPT

Abstract

The subject of this article is the European normative legal concept of social enterprise. However, its object is not this concept itself but its construction
process. The objective of this work is, therefore, to approach the construction process of this concept. The clearer and more precise this process, the safer and more effective the constructed concept will be. In a simplified way, normative legal concepts are concepts found in the context of legal norms. Such concepts represented by words or expressions, as in the case of social enterprise, do not have a previous meaning. What determines their meaning is the interpretation of the norms where the words and or expressions that represent them appear. Thus, language has a vital role in the process of constructing a normative concept. Languages are not neutral; they carry concepts and ways of thinking; they are formed and transformed according to the practices and cultures of the communities where they are spoken. Therefore, the language used in the creation process of the EU law can influence the construction of the normative concepts of this right. The process of constructing the normative legal concept of social enterprise in the EU has a peculiarity which is the fact that it is carried out in 24 official languages, which means the possibility of the existence of different conceptions of this concept in the member countries of the EU, according to their practices and culture, besides, of course, the possibility of the existence of other expressions being used to represent the concept under construction. For this analysis, the article is divided into two parts. The first part provides a general explanation of the meaning of normative legal concepts, clarifies when its identification becomes necessary and why this is the case of the social enterprise concept in the European legal system. The second part provides an in-depth look at these concepts in the context of legal theory, exploring functions, classifications and processes necessary for their identification and points out how this knowledge can help regulate social business in the European legal system.