In numerous fields of law, ranging from family law to company law, private actors increasingly set their own rules, revert to private enforcement of those rules and choose the applicable law. Within each field this tendency has already been scrutinised. Until now, however, few attempts have been made to look at these phenomena together with a view to arriving at conclusions that go beyond one specific field. This book is a first attempt to fill this gap. It is relevant for scholars and practitioners working in the individual fields of law covered (private international law, company law, family law, consumer law and commercial law) as well as for scholars and policy makers trying to grasp the overall nature of the increasing privatisation of the law.

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.