Shareholder Protection Across Countries - Is the EU on the Right Track?

Abstract:     
Since the beginning of the new century harmonisation of company law has once again been on the European agenda. One of its most important aims is the protection of shareholders. This article addresses this aim from a leximetric perspective. At the outset, it will be explained what leximetrics is (namely a quantitative approach to legal analysis). Using this methodology, it will then be shown how different parts of shareholder protection (active shareholder, passive shareholder, boards) have developed in Germany, France, the UK and US in the last 35 years.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 5

Keywords: shareholder protection, company law, corporate law, harmonisation, harmonization, leximetrics, law and finance, La Porta et al., LLSV, numerical comparative law, comparative company law, comparative corporate governance

JEL Classification: G30, G38, K22, N20, N40, N50

Accepted Paper Series