The Law of Corporate Finance: General Principles and EU Law

”Wenn man eine Erkenntnis als Wissenschaft d- stellen will, so muß man zuvor das Untersch- dende, was sie mit keiner andern gemein hat, und was ihr also eigentümlich ist, genau bestimmen können; widrigenfalls die Grenzen aller Wiss- schaften in einander laufen, und keine derselben, ihrer Natur nach, gründlich abgehandelt werden 1 kann. ” 1. 1 What Does Corporate Finance Law Mean? The law of corporate finance has been defined in a modern and more holistic way in this three-volume book. In this book, corporate finance law is studied from the perspective of the firm. Like modern commercial law in general, the law of cor- rate finance helps the firm to reach its legal objectives (management of cash flow and the exchange of goods, management of risk, management of agency relati- ships, and management of information). When trying to reach its legal objectives, the firm typically applies generic legal tools and practices (incorporation and choice of business form, contracts, regulation of internal processes through c- pliance and otherwise, typical ways to manage agency relationships, and typical ways to manage information problems) and takes into account legal rules that - long to different traditional fields of law (contract law, company law, banking law, 2 tax law, competition law, and so forth). In corporate finance law, these legal tools 1 Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena (1783), § 1.