The world is changing. Old certainties were swept away by the Financial Crisis of 2008. States are grappling with the implications of new thinking about the ways in which the role and nature of corporations should be viewed and therefore regulated. This timely study uses perspectives of scholars from around the world to highlight and provide critical analysis of innovations in corporate governance adopted in a range of jurisdictions, both mature and developing. Due to their primary importance, particular attention is paid to the governance of banks.
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This topical volume examines key developments in the law regulating capital markets, drawing on examples from around the world – including United States, Canada, Europe, China, India, and New Zealand. With perspectives from international scholars, chapters look at current issues including the regulation of crowdfunding, efforts in Europe for shareholder empowerment, hedge fund activism in Canada, international regulatory cooperation, and regulation of corporate governance in China through securities law rules. Learn More
Comparative Corporate Governance considers the effects of globalization on corporate governance issues and highlights how, despite these widespread consequences, predictions of legal convergence have not come true. By adopting a comparative legal approach, this book explores the disparity between convergence attempts and the persistence of local models of governance in the US, Europe and Asia. Learn More
Karin Lukas, Barbara Linder, Astrid Kutrzeba, Claudia Sprenger
Whilst many of us would agree that human rights are more important than corporate profits, the reality is often different; such realities as child labour and environmental destruction caused by corporate activities make this patently clear. Recognising that balancing human rights and business interests can be problematic, Corporate Accountability considers the limits of existing complaint mechanisms and examines non-judicial alternatives for conflict resolution. Learn More
Comparative Insolvency Law argues that the most important development in contemporary insolvency law and practice is the shift towards a rescue culture rather than full creditor satisfaction. This book is the first to specifically examine the rise of the pre-pack approach, which permits debtor companies to formulate a clear pre-arranged exit before entering into formal insolvency proceedings. Learn More
Focusing primarily on the banking system in the United States, this book offers an innovative framework that integrates a depository bank’s liquidity and its capital adequacy into a unified notion of funding that helps to explain how the 2007–2008 crisis unfolded, why central banks succeeded in resolving the crisis, and how the conceptual legacy of the crisis and its resolution led to lasting changes in bank funding regulation, including new objective requirements for bank liquidity. To provide a comparative context, the book also examines the funding models of non-bank intermediaries like dealer banks and insurers. Learn More
The shift from managerial capitalism to investor capitalism, dominated by the finance industry and finance capital accumulation, is jointly caused by a variety of institutional, legal, political, and ideological changes, beginning with the 1970s’ downturn of the global economy. This book traces how the incorporation of businesses within the realm of the state leads to both certain benefits, characteristic of competitive capitalism, and to the emergence of new corporate governance problems emerges. Contrasting economic, legal, and managerial views of corporate governance practices in contemporary capitalism, the author examines how corporate governance has been understood and advocated differently during the New Deal era, the post-World War II economic boom, and after 1980 in the era of free market advocacy. Learn More
Global in scope and written by leading scholars in the field, the Research Handbook on Mergers and Acquisitions is a modern-day survey of the state of M&A. Its chapters explore the history of mergers and acquisitions and also consider the theory behind the structure of modern transaction documentation. The book also address other key M&A issues, such as takeover defenses; judges and practitioners' perspectives on litigation; the appraisal remedy and other aspects of Federal and state law, as well as M&A considerations in the structure of start-ups. This Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, judges and legislators. Learn More
The modern corporation has become central to our society. The key feature of the corporation that makes it such an attractive form of human collaboration is its limited liability. This book explores how, by allowing those who form the corporation to limit their downside risk and personal liability to only the amount they invest, there is the opportunity for more risks taken at a lower cost. Learn More
This book is the first of its kind to provide an in-depth treatment of the law of unauthorised disclosures in the United Kingdom. Drawing upon extensive data obtained using freedom of information as a methodology and examples from comparative jurisdictions, the book considers the position of civil servants, employees of the security and intelligence services and service personnel in the armed forces. It considers the protections available, the consequences of leaking and a full assessment of the authorised alternatives. Learn More
Scholarly analysis of corporate law in the United States has come to be dominated by an economic approach. Professor Hill and Professor McDonnell here draw together seminal articles which represent major milestones along the road that economics has traveled in coming to play this central role in corporate law scholarship. The focus is on the analysis of corporate law, drawing mainly upon legal scholarship and particularly on US scholarship, which is the originator of the application of modern economic analysis to corporate law and has had much influence in other countries. Learn More
The effects of globalisation, together with the increase in foreign investment and resource development within the developing world, have created a context for human rights abuses by States in which transnational corporations are complicit. This timely book considers how these ‘governance gaps’, as identified by Professor John Ruggie, may be closed. Simon Baughen examines the status of corporations under international law, the civil liability of corporations for their participation in international crimes and self-regulation through voluntary codes of conduct, such as the 2011 UN Guiding Principles. Learn More
Presenting alternatives to the corporate form of organization, the Handbook explores partnerships, LLCs, business trusts and other alternatives. Specially commissioned chapters by leading scholars in the field examine issues such as: fiduciary duties, agency principles, contractual freedom, tax treatment, the special circumstances of law firms, and dissolution. While much of the emphasis is on US law, a number of chapters include treatments of Japan, the UK, Russia, China, Taiwan, India and Brazil. Learn More
This important book presents a fresh perspective on corporate governance and how the relationship between governance mechanisms, processes and variables should be understood through a new unifying theory: the relational corporate governance approach. The approach acts as a tool for analysing the governance health of individual companies and suggests the actions required to remedy sub-optimal governance arrangements. A wide selection of articles, empirical studies and literature have been translated into an original theory which complements existing law and economics models of the firm. Learn More
Much of the history of corporate law has concerned itself not with shareholder power, but rather with its absence. Yet, as this Handbook shows, there have been major shifts in capital market structure that require a reassessment of the role and power of shareholders. This book provides a contemporary analysis of shareholder power and considers the regulatory consequences of changing ownership patterns around the world. Leading international scholars in corporate law, governance and financial economics address these central issues from a range of different perspectives including historical, contemporary, legal, economic, political and comparative. Learn More
This insightful book demonstrates that private law makes a significant contribution to the promotion of corporate social responsibility (CSR), but that with certain changes this contribution could be better. Based on the analysis of four substantive areas (company law/corporate governance, contract law, consumer law and tort law), the book covers a full range of issues that are important for CSR. These include directors’ duties, corporate reporting, the incorporation of CSR policies into the supply chain, consumer rights and the tortious liabilities of companies. Learn More
Directors’ duties and liabilities have become the centre of a general legal discussion following the 2008 financial scandal that resulted in global recession. Questions have arisen regarding the ways in which the directors of the world’s major financial institutions have handled their duties and how their decisions have impacted investors, shareholders and consumers. This detailed ƒHandbook discusses the nature of the relationship between a company and its directors, assessing issues such as how duties are discharged, liabilities that may arise and what interests directors should consider before embarking on commercial ventures. Learn More
This important book discusses the issue of executive compensation in Anglo-American financial markets following the financial crisis. The book begins by contextualizing the problem facing financial institutions in the US and the UK and argues that approaches to government and compensation reform are flawed. It then goes on to offer solutions and suggests that new reforms to executive compensation in financial institutions would be very welcome, despite certain limitations. Learn More
Edited by A. J. Brown, David Lewis, Richard E. Moberly, Wim Vandekerckhove
In the modern age of institutions, whistleblowing is now established as one of the most important processes – if not the single most important process – by which governments and corporations are kept accountable to the societies they are meant to serve. This essential Handbook provides researchers and policy makers from around the world with a comprehensive overview of the state of our knowledge regarding this vital process. In addition to drawing from the last 30 years of progressively more systematic research into whistleblowing, it also provides cutting-edge analysis of the conceptual and practical challenges that researchers will want to confront in the next decade. Learn More
Enterprise law represents the entire range of private contracts and public regulations governing the relationship of different capital providers. Enterprise Law comparatively analyses the way these fundamental legal frameworks complement each other in the United States and Japan. Learn More
