Company Law

Author: Shi Shaoxia
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Company law is the law that regulates the organization and activities of companies. Therefore, revealing the concept and characteristics of companies is the logical starting point for company legislation and the theoretical research of company law. Companies are products of capitalist production relations and are a global form of economic organization. This determines that understanding the concept of a company cannot be separated from a comparative analysis of company laws in various countries. Due to differences in legal culture and company law systems among countries, the expression of the concept of a company is not entirely consistent. In common law jurisdictions, a company refers to a combination of multiple individuals pursuing a common purpose, often for the purpose of conducting business for profit, and is generally used for joint ventures that partnerships find difficult to handle. It can be seen that common law jurisdictions emphasize, in theory, that companies are combinations of individuals distinct from partnerships, confirming that the essential attributes of a company are two: legal personhood and limited liability. In civil law jurisdictions, a company refers to a social legal person established in accordance with statutory procedures for profit purposes. It reveals the following characteristics of a company: a company is a social legal person. In civil law jurisdictions, based on the theory of public and private law, legal persons are divided into public legal persons and private legal persons. The former refers to legal persons organized according to public law, which undertake the functions of national administration, such as various national agencies; the latter refers to legal persons organized according to private law, which pursue private purposes rather than managing or balancing society, such as various enterprises. Private legal persons are further divided into social legal persons and foundation legal persons. Social legal persons are combinations of members, also known as human combinations; foundation legal persons are based on property donations for their establishment, also known as property combinations. Companies are formed by shareholders or members jointly contributing capital and are first classified as social legal persons in the categorization of legal persons. Companies are social legal persons established for profit purposes. Civil law jurisdictions further divide social legal persons into public and...