Since the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 the role of the company in society, especially the role of publicly traded companies, has acquired a political salience that was largely absent in the decades before the crisis. This concern has been reflected in both enhanced reporting requirements and in the latest version of the Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes applicable to the largest companies. This books analyses these developments in full, as well as the more fundamental proposals for reform of corporate law that have been advanced outside official circles. The book also examines the functions of the five core features of company law-separate legal personality, limited liability, centralized management, shareholder control, and transferability of shares. It finally analyses the legal strategies available for moderating the frictions that these core features nevertheless generate for those providing the necessary inputs for a company's business. Written by one of the field's foremost experts, Paul Davies' Introduction to Company Law provides a comprehensive conceptual introduction to the subject, giving readers a clear framework with which to navigate the intricacies of company law.

Autorentext

Paul Davies was the Allen & Overy Professor of Company Law at the University of Oxford between 2009 and 2014. Between 1998 and 2009 he was Cassel Professor of Commercial Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was a member of the British Government's Steering Group for the Company Law Review (1999-2001), which led to the new Companies Act 2006. He is now a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute, an honorary QC and an honorary bencher of Gray's Inn.