Corporate Contracting Around Defective Regulations: The Daimler-Chrysler Case

Abstract

In its first part, the paper discusses the possibility of a competition of mandatory rules (as opposed to a competition of regulators) in corporate law, in other words, the self-correction of a regulatory system. The main part of the paper is a case study. The legal structure of the Daimler-Chrysler merger is described and analyzed. The paper shows how and to what extent the parties to this deal were able to contract around defective regulations of mandatory German corporate law.

JEL Classification: L5, L62