This work considers the balancing act between employee interests and management in the law pertaining to German and Spanish stock corporations in a legally comparative manner. The determination of differences, similarities and developments are firmly supported by historical groundwork and political context.

This work was first published in 1958 and this is its sixth edition. Generations of lawyers have relied on it as a source of reference in all areas of company law in South Africa. It offers a systematic overview of company law. Each topic is dealt with through an introductory text followed first by extracts from a wide-ranging selection of academic writings and then by case extracts.

Due to the increase in the international competition for capital, the demand for internationally comparable accounting norms has received a new impetus. The previous aim was a European-wide gradual convergence on the European and national levels but now European legislators are striving for a standardization of European Accounting Law based on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as set forth by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Against this backdrop, an analysis of the demands of European Account Law on foreign accounting systems is presented in this work.

There are many deep-seated reasons for the current financial turmoil but a key factor has undoubtedly been the serious failings within the corporate governance practices of financial institutions. There have been shortcomings in the risk management and incentive structures; the boards' supervision was at times weak; disclosure and accounting standards were in some cases inadequate; the institutional investors' engagement with management was at times insufficient and, last but not least, the remuneration policies of many large institutions appeared inappropriate. This book will provide a critical overview and analysis of key corporate governance weaknesses, focusing primarily on three main areas: directors' failure to understand complex company transactions; the poor remuneration practices of financial institutions; and, finally, the failure of institutional investors to sufficiently engage with management. The book, while largely focused on the UK, will also consider EU and Australian developments as well as offering a comparative angle looking at the corporate governance of financial institutions in the US.

The study of Law forms a component of many undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Its inclusion does not aim to equip business practitioners with skill and expertise to render professional legal advice unnecessary, but more to provide a legal framework of reference in which both strategic and more immediate business issues can be placed. Equipping managers with a basic understanding of how law impacts upon business activity can help them avoid legal pitfalls in the first place or at least identify potential problems at an early stage, to avoid inconvenience and cost. International business can present problems that are not present in a purely domestic transaction. Any law component in a management program should embrace it and by doing so the business practitioner can be familiarized with the wider picture in which modern business, aided by technological development, is increasingly practiced.

Institutional shareholder participation has long been considered as vital to good corporate governance yet its potential does not seem to have been realized. The recent banking crisis exposed the passivity of some institutional shareholders, many of whom appear to have chosen to sell their stakes in the banks rather than intervene or challenge the board when they realized the strategies followed by the banks were excessively risky. Institutional shareholders' role to scrutinize and monitor the decisions of boards and executive management in the banking sector in the UK is considered by many to be a failure, resulting in the phenomenon of 'ownerless corporations', as described by Lord Myners. In China, despite the fast rising of institutional investment in the securities market, institutional shareholders have not yet played a contributory role in monitoring corporate managers in listed companies. Drawing on empirical evidence this book seeks to systematically analyses institutional shareholders' incentives to activism to explain when and why shareholder activism will occur. The book puts forward a model which explains the factors that determine institutional shareholders' propensity for activism. The model both elaborates the collective benefits of activism as a means of achieving managerial accountability asks whether and when shareholder activism is rational for any individual shareholder. The book then goes to on to apply these finding to both the UK and China in order to explain the varying levels of shareholder activism in each jurisdiction. The book is the first to take an in-depth look at institutional share-holder activism in China providing prescriptions to promote greater shareholder engagement and exploring the potential it holds for improving corporate governance in the region.

Zwei aktuellen Themen von hoher kreditwirtschaftlicher Tragweite hat die Bankrechtliche Vereinigung - Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft fA1/4r Bankrecht e.V. ihrem Bankrechtstag 2002 in Leipzig gewidmet. Neben den Auswirkungen der Schuldrechtsreform auf das Recht der BankgeschAfte wurde die unternehmensinterne Wissenszurechnung behandelt. 1. Abteilung: Neues Schuldrecht und BankgeschAfte Mathias Habersack, Mainz: Auswirkungen der Schuldrechtsreform auf das Recht der BankgeschAfte; Herbert Schimansky, Marxzell: Das Recht der Aoeberweisung ab 1. Januar 2002; Ahrend Weber, Berlin: Das neue Schuldrecht in der kreditwirtschaftlichen Praxis 2. Abteilung: Wissenszurechnung bei Kreditinstituten Josef Drexl, MA1/4nchen: Wissenszurechnung im unabhAngigen und Konzernunternehmen- Zivil-, gesellschafts- und bankrechtliche Aoeberlegungen; Gerd Nobbe, Karlsruhe: Wissenszurechnung in der Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichtshofs; JA1/4rgen SchrAter, Frankfurt am Main: Wissenszurechnung aus der Sicht der kreditwirtschaftlichen Praxis

There are numerous conceptual reforms in the latest edition of the traditional commentary on insurance contract law. In addition to the uniform structure of the individual commentaries, there are considerably more commentators and an increase in the number of individual volumes. Thus, the commentaries are produced by acknowledged experts and held ever up to date.

Transnational business activities are important drivers of growth for developing and the least developed countries. However, they can also negatively impact the enjoyment of human rights. In some cases, multinational enterprises (MNEs) have even been accused of grave human rights abuses in the territory of the states where their subsidiaries operate. Since the parent companies of many MNEs are incorporated under the law of European states, those countries' domestic law and the European legal framework play a crucial role in establishing how their activities should be conducted - also throughout their supply chains - and which remedies will be available when corporate human rights violations occur. In recent years, the European Union, the Council of Europe and their Member States have been adopting policies and legislation to ensure respect for human rights by businesses and have developed a body of related case law. These legal instruments can be considered the European responses to the challenges posed at international-law level, and they constitute the focus of research of this book. Through its collected chapters - written by scholars and practitioners under the direction of the editor, Angelica Bonfanti - the book identifies the European solutions to the business and human rights international legal issues, provides an overall assessment of their effectiveness, and examines their potential evolution.

The contribution of company law to the realization of the domestic market is still pending in many areas. These findings were the starting point of the study in hand, which follows the central theme of company law conforming to a domestic market. This central theme has a legal and economic aspect: domestic market conformities in the legal sense are regulations relating to company law if they correspond to the compelling legal guidelines of Community law; in the economic sense they conform to the domestic market if they contribute to international trade in the domestic market. The clarification of the structural components, followed by the development of company law in the international process, takes center stage of the study, including civil rights, adjustments to the law, the creation of supranational legal forms and the concept of a legislator competition in the European domestic market. The findings gained are then applied to the current core questions of the European company law: the development of international company law, the protection of creditors and the systems of managing publicly owned firms.

This book provides a much-needed analysis of this very important subject for company lawyers, including discussion of the principle of freedom of establishment, and focusing upon the key issue of determining where a corporation has its 'seat' for legal purposes. A survey is given of current EC law and of private international law developments in three 'incorporation' countries (Netherlands, England and Switzerland) and three 'real seat' countries (Germany, France and Italy). Following on from entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, an integrated approach of EC law and private international law is advocated in order to develop instruments to facilitate cross-border company migration. Special attention is given to the 1998 EC Draft Proposal for a Fourteenth Company Law Directive on Cross-border Company Transfers.

Worldwide, anti-money laundering regulations and legislation have become one of the weapons of choice of governments that are fighting global terrorism and criminality. In this updated edition of Money Laundering, Doug Hopton explains how The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 have extended even further the range of UK businesses covered by the Proceeds of Crime Act to include solicitors, lawyers, accountants, estate agents, high value dealers, trust or company service providers and, in effect, many other companies involved in consultancy or business services. The complexity of the new laws and the limited amount of any case law asks more questions about the responsibilities of these companies and their liabilities. Doug Hopton's highly practical guide explains the basis of international law, regulations and standards in this area and how they affect businesses; and provides down-to-earth advice on the basic rules of good business management: customer due diligence, know your business (and your client's business), which will help companies understand what procedures to establish, and how and when to report suspicious activity. The author explains the basis of money laundering and how it works, along with the development of the law and regulations around the world, and how other countries' laws can affect UK companies.