Evolution of Corporate Law and the Transplant Effect: Lessons from Six Countries

Abstract

The pattern of legal change in countries that have their legal systems transplanted from abroad differs markedly from countries that develop their own systems, irrespective of the legal family from which their laws come. In transplant countries, law often stagnates for long periods of time; when change takes place, it tends to be radical, if not erratic. External models remain dominant even years after the law was transplanted. Although there is some evidence that transplant countries have engaged in comprehensive legal reforms in response to the pressures of globalization, it is still too early to judge whether these new changes can be taken as a sign that the legal systems in these countries have started a process of endogenous legal evolution.