References
Similarly G. Hertig and H. Kanda, ‘Creditor Protection’, in R. Kraakman, et al., The Anatomy of Corporate Law (Oxford, Oxford University Press 2004) p. 71: ‘The need to protect corporate creditors, however, does not necessarily imply that corporate law must do the protecting: the job could be left entirely to contracting between the parties or to the general law of debtor-creditor relations.’
See W. Wilburg, Entwicklung eines beweglichen Systems im geltenden Recht (Graz, Verlag Jos. A. Kienreich 1950).
See W. Posch, ‘Die Bedeutung des Beweglichen Systems für die Rechtsvergleichung und das Einheitsprivatrecht’, in F. Bydlinski, H. Krejci, B. Schilcher and V. Steininger, eds., Das Bewegliche System im geltenden und künftigen Recht (Vienna/New York, Springer 1986) p. 253 at p. 254 et seq.
The metaphor is taken from R.M. Dworkin, Law’s Empire (Cambridge, Harvard University Press 1986) p. 239.
This approach is suggested by H. Fleischer, ‘Kapitalschutz und Durchgriffshaftung bei Auslandsgesellschaften’, in M. Lutter, ed., Europäische Auslandsgesellschaften in Deutschland (Cologne, Otto Schmidt 2005) p. 49 at p. 107 et seq.
See F. Bydlinski, ‘Die “Elemente” des Beweglichen Systems: Beschaffenheit, Verwendung und Ermittlung’, in B. Schilcher, P. Koller and B.-C. Funk, eds., Regeln, Prinzipien und Elemente im System des Rechts (Vienna, Verlag Österreich 2000) p. 9 et seq.
See L.C.B. Gower and P.L. Davies, Principles of Modern Company Law, 7th edn. (London, Sweet & Maxwell 2003) p. 190: ‘British law has approached that problem [i.e., inadequate capitalisation] through the statutory doctrine of wrongful trading rather than through lifting the veil.’
Second Council Directive of 13 December 1976, OJ 1977 L 26/1.
The second recital states: ‘Whereas in order to ensure minimum equivalent protection for both shareholders and creditors of public limited liability companies, the coordination of national provisions relating to their formation and to the maintenance, increase or reduction of their capital is particularly important.’
See H. Fleischer, ‘Systematische Darstellung 6: Die Finanzierung der GmbH’, in L. Michalski, GmbH-Gesetz (Munich, C.H. Beck 2002) n. 7.
See Art. 42 of the Second Council Directive: ‘For the purposes of the implementation of this Directive, the laws of the Member States shall ensure equal treatment to all shareholders who are in the same position.’
See F.H. Easterbrook and D.R. Fischel, The Economic Structure of Corporate Law (Cambridge, Harvard University Press 1991) p. 50 et seq.; H. Fleischer, ‘Grundfragen der ökonomischen Theorie im Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht’, 30 Zeitschrift für Unternehmens-und Gesellschaftsrecht (2001) p. 1 at p. 19.
In analogy to the famous formulation aimed at investors in SEC v. Ralston Purina Co., 346 US 119 at 125 (1953).
See H. Fleischer, ‘Erweiterte Außenhaftung der Organmitglieder im Europäischen Gesellschafts-und Kapitalmarktrecht’, 33 Zeitschrift für Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrecht (2004) p. 437 at p. 445 et seq.
See P. Mankowski, ‘Does Contract Suffice to Protect the Interests of the Creditors of a Company Properly?’, in M. Lutter, ed., Legal Capital (Berlin, De Gruyter 2006, forthcoming).
Most prominently, H. Hansmann and R. Kraakman, ‘Toward Unlimited Shareholder Liability for Corporate Torts’, 100 Yale L.J. (1991) p. 1879.
See Easterbrook and Fischel, op. cit. n. 12, at p. 47 et seq.
See Hertig and Kanda, loc. cit. n. 1, at p. 88 et seq.
See L.M. LoPucki, ‘The Unsecured Creditor’s Bargain’, 80 Va. L. Rev. (1994) p. 1987; G. Wagner, ‘Deliktshaftung und Insolvenzrecht’, in E. Schilken, et al., eds., Festschrift für Walter Gerhardt (Cologne, RWS Verlag 2004) p. 1043 at p. 1067 et seq.
See S.M. Bainbridge, Corporation Law and Economics (New York, Foundation Press 2002) p. 132 et seq.; Fleischer, loc. cit. n. 12, at p. 16 et seq.
See R.B. Thompson, ‘Piercing the Corporate Veil: An Empirical Study’, 76 Cornell L.J. (1991) p. 1036, showing that veil piercing almost always takes place in close corporations; for a similar result, see C. Mitchell, ‘Lifting the Corporate Veil in the English Courts: An Empirical Study’, 3 Company, Financial and Insolvency Law Review (1999) p. 15 at p. 21: ‘No case was found in which the English courts have even been asked to fix the shareholders of a public company with liability for its obligations.’
Article 15(1)(a) states: ‘Except for cases of reductions of subscribed capital, no distribution to shareholders may be made when on the closing date of the last financial year the net assets as set out in the company’s annual accounts are, or following such a distribution would become, lower than the amount of the subscribed capital plus those reserves which may not be distributed under the law or the statutes.’
See P.O. Mülbert and M. Birke, ‘Legal Capital — Is There a Case against the European Legal Capital Rules?’, 3 EBOR (2002) p. 695 at p. 705 et seq.; H. Fleischer, ‘Hidden Distributions and the Capital Directive’, in Lutter, op. cit. n. 15.
Beginning with J.R. Macey and L. Enriques, ‘Creditors Versus Capital Formation: The Case Against the European Legal Capital Rules’, 86 Cornell L. Rev. (2001) p. 1165.
See W. Schön, ‘The Future of Legal Capital’, 5 EBOR (2004) p. 429 at p. 438 et seq.
See K. Heine and K. Röpke, ‘Die Rolle von Qualitätssignalen — eine ökonomische und juristische Analyse am Beispiel der deutschen Kapitalschutzregeln’, 70 Rabels Zeitschrift (2006) p. 138.
See M.A. Petersen and R.G. Rajan, ‘Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending’, 57 Journal of Finance (2002) p. 533.
See M.A. Petersen and R.G. Rajan, ‘Trade Credit: Theories and Evidence’, 10 Review of Financial Studies (1997) p. 661.
See E. Warren and J.L. Westbrook, ‘Contracting out of Bankruptcy: An Empirical Intervention’, 118 Harv. L. Rev. (2005) p. 1197.
See Bainbridge, op. cit. n. 20, at p. 23 et seq.
See C.R. Sunstein, ed., Behavioral Law and Economics (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2000); H. Fleischer, ‘Behavioral Law and Economics im Gesellschafts- und Kapitalmarktrecht — ein Werkstattbericht’, in A. Fuchs, et al., Festschrift für Ulrich Immenga (Munich, C.H. Beck 2004) p. 575.
See D.C. Langevoort, ‘Organized Illusions: A Behavioral Theory of Why Corporations Mislead Stock Market Investors (and Cause Other Social Harm)’, 146 U. Pa. L. Rev. (1996) p. 101 at p. 161; Fleischer, loc. cit. n. 14, at p. 459 et seq.
See Re White & Osmond (Parkstone) Ltd., unpublished but cited in R. v. Grantham [1984] 2 All ER 166 at 170.
See R.A. Brealey and S.C. Myers, ‘How Much Should a Firm Borrow’, Principles of Corporate Finance, 7th edn. (New York, McGraw 2003) p. 489.
For a recent survey of the rich literature, see H. Fleischer, ‘Gesetz und Vertrags als alternative Problemlösungsmodelle im Gesellschaftsrecht’, 168 Zeitschrift für das gesamte Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht (2004) p. 673 at p. 886 et seq.
See B.A. Adler, ‘Financial and Political Theories of American Corporate Bankruptcy’, 45 Stan L. Rev. (1993) p. 311; R.K. Rasmussen, ‘Debtor’s Choice: A Menu Approach to Corporate Bankruptcy’, 71 Tex. L. Rev. (1992) p. 51; A. Schwartz, ‘A Contract Theory Approach to Business Bankruptcy’, 107 Yale L.J. (1998) p. 1807; contra: S. Block-Lieb, ‘The Logic and Limits of Contract Bankruptcy’, U. Ill. L. Rev. (2001) p. 503; L.M. LoPucki, ‘Contract Bankruptcy: A Reply to Alan Schwartz’, 109 Yale L.J. (1999) p. 317.
For a key contribution, see L. Kaplow, ‘Rules Versus Standards: An Economic Analysis’, 42 Duke L.J. (1992) p. 557.
Most prominently Walford v. Miles [1992] 2 A.C. 128 at 138.
See H. Fleischer, Informationsasymmetrie im Vertragsrecht (Munich, C.H. Beck 2001) p. 567 et seq.
On this point with respect to German and US law, see H. Fleischer, ‘Der Gläubigerschutz im Recht der Delaware Corporation’, 51 Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft (2004) p. 92; see also Gower and Davies, op. cit. n. 7, at p. 190: ‘Indeed, at a more general level, the approach of British law to regulation of the abuse of limited liability is a combination of facilitating self-help and statutory constraints.’
See generally A. Watson, Legal transplants. An Approach in Comparative Law, 2nd edn. (Athens/London, The University of Georgia Press 1993); with a view to company law, see H. Fleischer, ‘Legal Transplants im deutschen Aktienrecht’, Neue Zeitschrift für Gesellschaftsrecht (2004) p. 1129 with further references.
See H. Kanda and C.J. Milhaupt, Re-examining Legal Transplants: The Director’s Fiduciary Duty in Japanese Corporate Law, Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 219 (2003) p. 9, available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=391821.
D. Berkowitz, K. Pistor and J.F. Richard, ‘The Transplant Effect’, 51 Am. J. Comp. L. (2003) p. 163.
See M.J. Roe, ‘Path Dependence, Political Options, and Governance Systems’, in K.J. Hopt and E. Wymeersch, eds., Comparative Corporate Governance — Essays and Materials (Berlin, de Gruyter 1997) p. 165.
See H. Fleischer, ‘Legal Transplants in European Company Law — The Case of Fiduciary Duties’, European Company and Financial Law Review (2005) p. 378 at p. 393; see also M. Bors, ‘Recht und Autorität’, in P. Tercier, ed., Festschrift für Peter Gauch (Zürich, Schulthess 2004) p. 37 at p. 42 et seq.
See M. Tushnet, ‘“Everything Old is New Again”: Early Reflections on the “New Chicago School”’, Wis. L. Rev. (1998) p. 579 at p. 581: ‘Ambitious younger scholars, of whom there is rarely an undersupply, have obvious incentives to discover some novel approach. In general, however, the legal academy’s reward structure requires that novel approaches be one that the younger scholars’ elders can appreciate as continuing a tradition with which the elders are associated.’
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Fleischer, H. Legal Capital: A Navigation System for Corporate Law Scholarship. Eur Bus Org Law Rev 7, 29–38 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1566752906000292
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1566752906000292