EL INTERÉS EN EL DERECHO: NOTAS SOBRE LA SIGNIFICACIÓN Y NATURALEZA DEL INTERÉS DEL PARTÍCIPE EN LOS PLANES DE PENSIONES INDIVIDUALES

Abstract

The idea of interest has a great significance in the life of law, as it is a leading force in the process of law’s birth, evolution and transformation. This is particularly oustanding for commercial law. The idea of interest of the participant in individual pension plans is based on the possibility of drawing cash the pension by the beneficiary. This idea has not currently an individualistic meaning. The idea of interest has developped in two senses: Firstly, it has exceeded its original economic nature, by taking on other contents that include material, vital, cultural and moral aspects. Secondly, the idea of interest has evolved from its primitive individualistic meaning up to its current configuration as social interest (due to the transit from liberal democracy to welfare state, as well as the impact of welfare state on public and private law). This process of transformation of the idea of interest influences the participant’s interest in the individual pension plans, that as much as they are organized through a general pension plans and funds system, they affect directly the configuration of general interest in society. The participant’s interest being recognised and protected by law, crystallizes as an individual right that is also affected, during its lifetime, by the specific randomness of the pension plan contract.