This chapter deals with fundamental issues of corporate insolvency law. Particular attention is paid to the agency problems related to “bankruptcy governance” and how these are addressed in various jurisdictions. Methodologically, the chapter is based on a functional approach that compares...

Insolvency proceedings and issues relating to personal and business insolvencies are the daily subject of scholarly work and insolvency practice. But what is an insolvency proceeding? And why is this an important question? This article deals with a specific regulatory problem that is raised by...

Two prominent progressive senators, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have recently proposed that employees should be allowed to elect 40 to 45 percent of the directors of large corporations. If implemented, such a reform would bring U.S. corporate law substantially closer to European...

German Abstract: Die Zahl strategischer Insolvenzen, also von freiwillig eingeleiteten Insolvenzverfahren zur planvollen Erreichung eines bestimmten wirtschaftlichen Ziels, nimmt weltweit stark zu. Der Beitrag analysiert auf rechtsvergleichender und interdisziplinärer (Recht/Ökonomik)...

Almost every legal system accepts the fundamental principle that promises must be kept (“pacta sunt servanda”). Yet, a consumer’s right to withdraw from a contract for the purchase goods or services (“withdrawal right”) figures prominently in European consumer law directives, in the...

What are the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for corporate law? In this essay, we consider the trajectory of AI's evolution, analyze the effects of its application on business practice, and investigate the impact of these developments for corporate law. Overall, we claim that the...

Machines powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are on the rise. In many use cases, their performance today already exceeds human capabilities. In this essay, I explore fundamental regulatory issues related to such “autonomous machines”. I adopt an analytical perspective that highlights the...

COVID-19 has severely disrupted the conduct of business around the globe. In jurisdictions that impose one or more ‘lockdowns', multiple sectors of the real economy must endure prolonged periods of reduced trading or even total shutdowns. The associated revenue losses will push many businesses...

The rules on the conclusion of contracts are at the core of contract law. This article aims not only to describe these rules contained in Book II of the academic Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) but also to illustrate the underlying values and policies. The DCFR severely restricts...

Two events are currently changing the landscape for business restructurings in the European Union: the “Restructuring Recommendation” (RR) of the European Commission, issued in 2014, and the 2015 recast of the European Insolvency Regulation (EIR). In this paper, we critically review the RR...