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Harmonization, Regulation and Legislative Competition in European Corporate Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Sebastian Mock

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The European Community is also a community of Law. Nevertheless the European Community is not focused on the creation of one European Law in contrast to the Laws of its Member States. Instead the European Community focuses on the harmonization of the national legal system only to the extent that is required for the functioning of the common market (art. 3 I h EC). The harmonization of Corporate Law (art. 44 EC) was regarded as a key factor of this process. As a consequence Corporate Law is one of the most harmonized legal fields in the European Community.

Type
Research Article
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 12 , December 2002 , E5
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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(73) The need for the preliminary ruling in this case was already doubted because of the fact that the Überseering BV would be a partnership under German Law. The commercial partnership has the legal capacity (§§ 105 II, 124 German Commercial Code). Also the partnership under the Civil Code has due to the judgement of the Bundesgerichtshof the legal capacity (BGHZ 146, 341 ff.). See Holger Altmeppen Parteifähigkeit, Sitztheorie und “Centros”, Deutsches Steuerrecht [DStR] 38 (2000), 1061; but see Stefan Leible/Jochen Hoffmann Vom “Nullum” zur Personengesellschaft – Die Metamorphose der Scheinauslandsgesellschaft im deutschen Recht, Der Betrieb [DB] 55 (2002), 2203 (2206).Google Scholar

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(80) After the Paul v. Virginia decision of the U.S. Supreme Court the ‘race to laxity’ began 1896 in New Jersey. Later Maine and finally from 1899 on Delaware became the ‘mother of incorporations'; An overview gives Henry N. Butler Nineteenth-century jurisdictional competition in the granting of corporate privileges, Journal of Legal Studies 129 (1985), 129 (155); Richard M. Buxbaum The origins of the American ”Internal Affairs“ Rules in corporate conflict of laws, Festschrift für Gerhard Kegel (Stuttgart 1987), 75 (79).Google Scholar

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(86) See, again, Martin Rhodes/Bastian van Apeldoorn Capital Unbound? The Transformation of European corporate governance, Journal of European Public Policy 5 (1998), 406-427; Simon Deakin Two Types of Regulatory Competition: Competitive Federalism versus Reflexive Harmonisation. A Law and Economics Perspective on Centros, Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies (CYEL) 2 (1999), 231-260; Antoine Rebérioux European Style of Corporate Governance at the Crossroads: The Role of Worker Involvement, Journal of Common Market Studies 40 (2002), 111–134.Google Scholar

(87) Merkt, Hanno US-amerikanisches Gesellschaftsrecht (Heidelberg 1991), no. 191 ff.Google Scholar

(88) See. e.g., Philipp von Ilberg/Michael Neises, Die Richtlinien-Vorschläge der EU Kommission zum “Einheitlichen Europäischen Prospekt” und zum “Marktmissbrauch” aus Sicht der Praxis, Wertpapiermitteilungen [WM] 56 (2002), 635-647.Google Scholar

(89) The European Community does especially not have a public authority for the enforcement of these provisions.Google Scholar

(90) Habersack, Mathias Europäisches Gesellschaftsrecht, 2; Markus Lenenbach Kapitalmarkt und Börsenrecht (Cologne 2002), no. 1.59; for the relation of corporate and securities law in German law: Assmann in GroßKomm.AktG Einl. no. 343 ff.Google Scholar

(91) Raiser, Thomas Kapitalgesellschaftsrecht (Munich 2001), 21; Hanno Merkt Das Europäische Gesellschaftsrecht und die Idee des ”Wettbewerbs der Gesetzgeber“, Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht [RabelsZ] 59 (1995); 545 (566).Google Scholar

(92) Similar Deakin promotes a ‘reflexive harmonization’ as an effective guarantor of diversity between national systems and therefore of experimentation in regulatory design (Simon Deakin Regulatory Competition versus Reflexive Harmonisation in European Company Law, in: Daniel C. Esty/Damien Geradin (Hrsg.), Regulatory Competition and Economic Integration. Comparative Perspectives (Oxford University Press: Oxford/New York 2001), 190 (216)).Google Scholar

(93) For the development in German Corporate Law Holger Altmeppen Zur Entwicklung eines neuen Gläubigerschutzkonzeptes in der GmbH, Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht [ZIP] 23 (2002), 1553 ff.Google Scholar

(94) In the first proposal of the twelfth directive Art. 2 (3) stated a unlimited liability of the sole member for obligations of the company. This provision met with restriction esp. from Germany and was later replaced with a new provision which survived as art. 2 (2) of the adopted directive. (Proposal for a twelfth council directive on company law concerning single-member private limited companies, COM (1988), 101 final; see also Vanessa Edwards EC Company Law, 225).Google Scholar

(95) Proposal for the 14th directive on cross-border transfer of company seats, Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht [ZIP] 18 (1997), 1721 ff.; see also High Level Group of Company Law Experts and its key recommendations and priorities for a further development, http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal market/en/company/company/modern/consult/report_en.pdf.Google Scholar

(96) Timmermanns, Christiaan Die Europäische Rechtsangleichung im Gesellschaftsrecht, Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht [RabelsZ] 48 (1984) 1 (14).Google Scholar