Abstrakt
This article presents the origins of corporate creditor protection mechanisms in the Western legal tradition. It begins with Roman law and its conception of corporate juristic persons (universitas). The Medieval institutions of law merchant (lex mercatoria), guilds, and mining and banking businesses are presented as containing the elements of modern corporations. An extensive discussion of the developments in the modern period, including the Atlantic and industrial revolutions, reveals the complex background surrounding joint- -stock companies and issues that arise from introduction of their financial instruments to trading on public stock exchanges. The historical analysis ends with a discussion of contemporary trends that affect the rules designed to protect creditors of corporations, such as accounting, valuation, and asset partitioning within corporate groups. The author traces creditor protection rules to the separation of capital and profits. This separation is shown to create material issues in accounting and, by extension, in corporate law. Initially, creditor protections rules were either non-existent or rudimentary in form. More sophisticated formulations of those rules appear to have emerged as a response to the rapid liberalization of corporate law with the introduction of ?freedom of incorporation?. The article concludes by putting creditor protection in perspective by linking it back to modern theories of capital structure and priority of property rights. The absolute priority rule developed in American case law serves as a simplified model that enables a logical reconstruction and justification of corporate creditor protection mechanisms.
Bibliografia
Acheson G.G., Turner J.D., Ye Q.: The character and denomination of shares in the Victorian equity market, The Economic History Review 2012, nr 3 (65), s. 862?886.
Ardern D., Aiken M.: An Accounting History of Capital Maintenance: Legal Precedents for Managerial Autonomy in the United Kingdom, Accounting Historians Journal 2005, nr 1 (32), s. 23?60.
Baird D.G., Rasmussen R.K.: Chapter 11 at Twilight, Stanford Law Review 2003, nr 3 (56), s. 673?699.
Berle A.A., Jr., Means G.C.: The Modern Corporation and Private Property, New York 1936.
Blackstone W.: Commentaries on the Laws of England. Book the First, Oxford 1765.
Blumberg P.: Limited Liability and Corporate Groups, The Journal of Corporation Law 1986, nr 4 (11), s. 573?631.
Borker D.R.: Is There A Favorable Cultural Profile For IFRS?: An Examination And Extension Of Gray?s Accounting Value Hypotheses, International Business & Economics Research Journal 2013, nr 2 (12), s. 167?177.
Braudel F.: Civilization and Capitalism: 15th?18th Century, Vol. II, The Wheels of Commerce, tłum. S. Reynolds, London 1983.
Brealey R.A., Myers S.C., Allen F.: Principles of Corporate Finance, New York 2010.
Brenner R.: Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London?s Overseas Traders, 1550?1653, London 2003.
Brunstad G.E., Sigal M.: Competitive Choice Theory and the Unresolved Doctrines of Classification and Unfair Discrimination in Business Reorganizations Under the Bankruptcy Code, The Business Lawyer 1999, nr 1 (55), s. 1?80.
Child J.: A New Discourse of Trade, Glasgow 1751.
Commons J.R.: Value in Law and Economics (w:) Law: A century of progress, 1835?1935. Contributions in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the School of law of New York University, Vol. 2, Public Law and Jurisprudence, ed. A. Reppy, New York 1937, s. 332?345.
Corey G.S., Marr M.W., Jr., Spivey M.F.: Are Bondholders Owed A Fiduciary Duty?, Florida State University Law Review 1991, nr 4 (18), s. 971?993.
Countryman V.: A History of American Bankruptcy Law, Commercial Law Journal 1976, nr 6 (81), s. 226?232.
Couwenberg O., Lubben S.J.: Corporate Bankruptcy Tourists, The Business Lawyer 2015, nr 3 (70), s. 719?745.
Culhane D.R.: Substantive Consolidation and Nondebtor Entities: The Fight Continues, Pratt?s Journal of Bankruptcy Law 2011, nr 6 (7), s. 514?521.
Davis J.S.: Essays in the earlier history of American corporations. Number IV: Eighteenth century business corporations in the United States, Cambridge 1917.
Dąbrowski D.: Nabywanie akcji własnych przez spółkę akcyjną, Warszawa 2010.
de Roover R.: The Medici Bank: Its Organization, Management, Operations, and Decline, New York 1948.
de Roover R.: The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank: 1397?1494, Cambridge 1963.
de Vries J.: van der Woude A.: The First Modern Economy: Success, failure, and perseverance of the Dutch economy, 1500?1815, Cambridge 2010.
Dibadj R.: Compagnie des Indes: Governance and Bailout (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppella, New York 2011, s. 169?186.
Dickinson K.H.: Partners in a corporate cloak: the emergence and legitimacy of the incorporated partnership, The American University Law Review 1984, nr 3 (33), s. 559?600.
Duff P.W.: Personality in Roman Private Law, New York 1971.
Edwards J.D.: History of public accounting in the United States, East Lansing 1960.
Eierle B.: Differential reporting in Germany ? A historical analysis, Accounting, Business & Financial History 2005, nr 3 (15), s. 279?315.
Ellis J.R., Sayre C.L.: Trust-Fund Doctrine Revisited: Part I, Washington Law Review and State Bar Journal 1949, nr 1 (24), s. 44?54.
Ellis J.R., Sayre C.L.: Trust-Fund Doctrine Revisited: Part II, Washington Law Review and State Bar Journal 1949, nr 2 (24), s. 134?145.
Engert A.: Life Without Legal Capital: Lessons from American Law (w:) Legal Capital in Europe, ed. M. Lutter, Berlin 2006, s. 646?694.
Erdem Şişmangil H.: Creditor Protection in Private Equity-Backed Leveraged Buyout and Recapitalisation Practices: A Comparative Analysis of Company and Insolvency Law Mechanisms in England, Germany and Turkey, Berlin 2014.
Franczak Ł.: Teoria spółki akcyjnej ? charakter i znaczenie prawa akcyjnego dla ustroju spółki i praw akcjonariuszy, niepublikowana rozprawa doktorska, marzec 2015.
Fohlin C.: Finance Capitalism and Germany?s Rise to Industrial Power, Cambridge 2007.
Fohlin C.: The History of Corporate Ownership and Control in Germany (w:) A History of Corporate Governance around the World, ed. R.K. Morck, Chicago 2007, s. 223?281.
Frąckowiak J.: Demontaż spółki z o.o. czy nowy rodzaj spółki kapitałowej ? uwagi na tle proponowanej nowelizacji kodeksu spółek handlowych, Przegląd Prawa Handlowego 2011, nr 6, s. 5?15.
Freedland F.: History of Holding Company Legislation in New York State: Some Doubts as to the ?New Jersey First? Tradition, Fordham Law Review 1995, nr 3 (24), s. 369?411.
Gianaris W.N.: Weighted Voting in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Fordham International Law Journal 1990, nr 4 (14), s. 910?945.
Gilbert J.S.: Substantive Consolidation in Bankruptcy: A Primer, Vanderbilt Law Review 1990, nr 1 (43), s. 207?243.
Goetzmann W.N., Pouget S.: A Shareholder Lawsuit in Fourteenth-Century Toulouse (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppell, New York 2011, s. 215?230.
González de Lara Y.: Litigation Plus Regulation: The Protection of Investor Rights in Late-Medieval Venice (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppell, New York 2011, s. 101?122.
Gower L.C.B.: The English Private Company, Law and Contemporary Problems 1953, nr 4 (18), s. 535?545.
Hansmann H., Kraakman R., Squire R.: Law and the Rise of the Firm, Harvard Law Review 2006, nr 2 (119), s. 1335?1403.
Harris R.: The Private Origins of the Private Company: Britain 1862?1907, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 2013, nr 2 (33), s. 339?378.
Heckscher E.F.: Mercantilism, London 1994.
Hoggson N.F.: Banking through the ages, New York 1926.
Holzer H.P., Rogers W.: The origins and developments of French costing systems (as reflected in published literature), The Accounting Historians Journal 1990, nr 2 (17), s. 57?71.
Hooft K.: The Financial Assistance Prohibition: Origins, Evolution, and Future, European Company Law 2011, nr 4 (8), s. 157?160.
Howard S.E.: Stockholders? Liability Under the New York Act of March 22, 1811, Journal of Political Economy 1938, nr 4 (46), s. 499?514.
Hu H.T.C., Westbrook J.L.: Abolition of the Corporate Duty to Creditors, Columbia Law Review 2007, nr 6 (107), s. 1321?1403.
Jefferys J.B.: The Denomination and Character of Shares, 1855?1885, The Economic History Review 1946, nr 1 (16), s. 45?55.
Johansson C., Svensson A.: A true and fair view: harmonization of the accounting, European Journal of Management 2008, nr 2 (8), s. 104?111.
Jones M.: American Immigration, Chicago 1992.
Kehl D.: The Origin and Early Development of American Dividend Law, Harvard Law Review 1939, nr 1 (53), s. 36?67.
Kędzierski D.: W sprawie właściwej domeny prawa spółek kapitałowych, Przegląd Prawa Handlowego 2017, nr 10, s. 53?58.
Knight F.H.: Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, New York 1964.
Koller T., Goedhart M., Wessels D.: Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Hoboken 2010.
La Porta R., Lopez-de-Silanes F., Shleifer A.: The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins, Journal of Economic Literature 2008, nr 2 (46), s. 285?332.
Lauwers L., Willekens M.: Five Hundred Years of Bookkeeping: A Portrait of Luca Pacioli, Tijdschrift voor Economie en Management 1994, nr 3 (39),
s. 289?304.
Lemarchand Y.: The dark side of the result: self-financing and accounting choices within nineteenth-century French industry (w:) Accounting in France/La comptabilité en France: Historical Essays/Etudes Historiques, eds. Y. Lemarchand, R.H. Parker, Abingdon 2014, s. 127?149.
Lipson E.: The Economic History of England, Vol. I, The Middle Ages, London 1929.
Lipson E.: The Economic History of England, Vol. III, The Age of Mercantilism, London 1931.
Lipton P.: The Mythology of Salomon?s Case and the Law Dealing with the Tort Liabilities of Corporate Groups: An Historical Perspective, Monash University Law Review 2014, nr 2 (40), s. 452?487.
Lopez R.S.: The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages: 950?1350, Cambridge 1995.
Lubben S.J.: No Big Deal: The GM and Chrysler Cases in Context, American Bankruptcy Law Journal 2009, nr 4 (83), s. 531?547.
Lubben S.J.: Resolution, Orderly and Otherwise: B of A in OLA, University of Cincinnati Law Review 2013, nr 2 (81), s. 485?519.
Lubben S.J.: Corporate Finance, New York 2014.
Malberti C.: Shareholders? Rights in the Early Italian Companies: Agency Problems and Legal Strategies (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppell, New York 2011, s. 145?168.
McDaniel M.W.: Bondholders and Stockholders, The Journal of Corporation Law 1988, nr 2 (13), s. 205?315.
McKenna C.D.: The World?s Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge 2006.
Mitchell W.: An Essay on the Early History of the Law Merchant, Cambridge 1904.
Modigliani F., Miller M.H.: The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance and the Theory of Investment, The American Economic Review 1958, nr 3 (43), s. 261?297.
Muchlinski P.: The Development of German Corporate Law Until 1990: An Historical Reappraisal, German Law Journal 2013, nr 2 (14), s. 339?379.
Mülbert P.O., Birke M.: Legal Capital ? Is There a Case against the European Legal Capital Rules?, European Business Organization Law Review 2002, nr 3, s. 695?732.
Nobes C., Parker R.: Comparative International Accounting, Harlow 2010.
Opalski A.: Kapitał zakładowy. Zysk. Umorzenie, Warszawa 2002.
Opalski A.: Kapitał zakładowy: skuteczny instrument ochrony wierzycieli czy przestarzała koncepcja prawna? Próba porównania modeli ochrony wierzycieli w prawie państw europejskich i Stanów Zjednoczonych, Kwartalnik Prawa Prywatnego 2004, z. 2, s. 435?509.
Ardern D., Aiken M.: An Accounting History of Capital Maintenance: Legal Precedents for Managerial Autonomy in the United Kingdom, Accounting Historians Journal 2005, nr 1 (32), s. 23?60.
Baird D.G., Rasmussen R.K.: Chapter 11 at Twilight, Stanford Law Review 2003, nr 3 (56), s. 673?699.
Berle A.A., Jr., Means G.C.: The Modern Corporation and Private Property, New York 1936.
Blackstone W.: Commentaries on the Laws of England. Book the First, Oxford 1765.
Blumberg P.: Limited Liability and Corporate Groups, The Journal of Corporation Law 1986, nr 4 (11), s. 573?631.
Borker D.R.: Is There A Favorable Cultural Profile For IFRS?: An Examination And Extension Of Gray?s Accounting Value Hypotheses, International Business & Economics Research Journal 2013, nr 2 (12), s. 167?177.
Braudel F.: Civilization and Capitalism: 15th?18th Century, Vol. II, The Wheels of Commerce, tłum. S. Reynolds, London 1983.
Brealey R.A., Myers S.C., Allen F.: Principles of Corporate Finance, New York 2010.
Brenner R.: Merchants and Revolution: Commercial Change, Political Conflict, and London?s Overseas Traders, 1550?1653, London 2003.
Brunstad G.E., Sigal M.: Competitive Choice Theory and the Unresolved Doctrines of Classification and Unfair Discrimination in Business Reorganizations Under the Bankruptcy Code, The Business Lawyer 1999, nr 1 (55), s. 1?80.
Child J.: A New Discourse of Trade, Glasgow 1751.
Commons J.R.: Value in Law and Economics (w:) Law: A century of progress, 1835?1935. Contributions in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the School of law of New York University, Vol. 2, Public Law and Jurisprudence, ed. A. Reppy, New York 1937, s. 332?345.
Corey G.S., Marr M.W., Jr., Spivey M.F.: Are Bondholders Owed A Fiduciary Duty?, Florida State University Law Review 1991, nr 4 (18), s. 971?993.
Countryman V.: A History of American Bankruptcy Law, Commercial Law Journal 1976, nr 6 (81), s. 226?232.
Couwenberg O., Lubben S.J.: Corporate Bankruptcy Tourists, The Business Lawyer 2015, nr 3 (70), s. 719?745.
Culhane D.R.: Substantive Consolidation and Nondebtor Entities: The Fight Continues, Pratt?s Journal of Bankruptcy Law 2011, nr 6 (7), s. 514?521.
Davis J.S.: Essays in the earlier history of American corporations. Number IV: Eighteenth century business corporations in the United States, Cambridge 1917.
Dąbrowski D.: Nabywanie akcji własnych przez spółkę akcyjną, Warszawa 2010.
de Roover R.: The Medici Bank: Its Organization, Management, Operations, and Decline, New York 1948.
de Roover R.: The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank: 1397?1494, Cambridge 1963.
de Vries J.: van der Woude A.: The First Modern Economy: Success, failure, and perseverance of the Dutch economy, 1500?1815, Cambridge 2010.
Dibadj R.: Compagnie des Indes: Governance and Bailout (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppella, New York 2011, s. 169?186.
Dickinson K.H.: Partners in a corporate cloak: the emergence and legitimacy of the incorporated partnership, The American University Law Review 1984, nr 3 (33), s. 559?600.
Duff P.W.: Personality in Roman Private Law, New York 1971.
Edwards J.D.: History of public accounting in the United States, East Lansing 1960.
Eierle B.: Differential reporting in Germany ? A historical analysis, Accounting, Business & Financial History 2005, nr 3 (15), s. 279?315.
Ellis J.R., Sayre C.L.: Trust-Fund Doctrine Revisited: Part I, Washington Law Review and State Bar Journal 1949, nr 1 (24), s. 44?54.
Ellis J.R., Sayre C.L.: Trust-Fund Doctrine Revisited: Part II, Washington Law Review and State Bar Journal 1949, nr 2 (24), s. 134?145.
Engert A.: Life Without Legal Capital: Lessons from American Law (w:) Legal Capital in Europe, ed. M. Lutter, Berlin 2006, s. 646?694.
Erdem Şişmangil H.: Creditor Protection in Private Equity-Backed Leveraged Buyout and Recapitalisation Practices: A Comparative Analysis of Company and Insolvency Law Mechanisms in England, Germany and Turkey, Berlin 2014.
Franczak Ł.: Teoria spółki akcyjnej ? charakter i znaczenie prawa akcyjnego dla ustroju spółki i praw akcjonariuszy, niepublikowana rozprawa doktorska, marzec 2015.
Fohlin C.: Finance Capitalism and Germany?s Rise to Industrial Power, Cambridge 2007.
Fohlin C.: The History of Corporate Ownership and Control in Germany (w:) A History of Corporate Governance around the World, ed. R.K. Morck, Chicago 2007, s. 223?281.
Frąckowiak J.: Demontaż spółki z o.o. czy nowy rodzaj spółki kapitałowej ? uwagi na tle proponowanej nowelizacji kodeksu spółek handlowych, Przegląd Prawa Handlowego 2011, nr 6, s. 5?15.
Freedland F.: History of Holding Company Legislation in New York State: Some Doubts as to the ?New Jersey First? Tradition, Fordham Law Review 1995, nr 3 (24), s. 369?411.
Gianaris W.N.: Weighted Voting in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Fordham International Law Journal 1990, nr 4 (14), s. 910?945.
Gilbert J.S.: Substantive Consolidation in Bankruptcy: A Primer, Vanderbilt Law Review 1990, nr 1 (43), s. 207?243.
Goetzmann W.N., Pouget S.: A Shareholder Lawsuit in Fourteenth-Century Toulouse (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppell, New York 2011, s. 215?230.
González de Lara Y.: Litigation Plus Regulation: The Protection of Investor Rights in Late-Medieval Venice (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppell, New York 2011, s. 101?122.
Gower L.C.B.: The English Private Company, Law and Contemporary Problems 1953, nr 4 (18), s. 535?545.
Hansmann H., Kraakman R., Squire R.: Law and the Rise of the Firm, Harvard Law Review 2006, nr 2 (119), s. 1335?1403.
Harris R.: The Private Origins of the Private Company: Britain 1862?1907, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 2013, nr 2 (33), s. 339?378.
Heckscher E.F.: Mercantilism, London 1994.
Hoggson N.F.: Banking through the ages, New York 1926.
Holzer H.P., Rogers W.: The origins and developments of French costing systems (as reflected in published literature), The Accounting Historians Journal 1990, nr 2 (17), s. 57?71.
Hooft K.: The Financial Assistance Prohibition: Origins, Evolution, and Future, European Company Law 2011, nr 4 (8), s. 157?160.
Howard S.E.: Stockholders? Liability Under the New York Act of March 22, 1811, Journal of Political Economy 1938, nr 4 (46), s. 499?514.
Hu H.T.C., Westbrook J.L.: Abolition of the Corporate Duty to Creditors, Columbia Law Review 2007, nr 6 (107), s. 1321?1403.
Jefferys J.B.: The Denomination and Character of Shares, 1855?1885, The Economic History Review 1946, nr 1 (16), s. 45?55.
Johansson C., Svensson A.: A true and fair view: harmonization of the accounting, European Journal of Management 2008, nr 2 (8), s. 104?111.
Jones M.: American Immigration, Chicago 1992.
Kehl D.: The Origin and Early Development of American Dividend Law, Harvard Law Review 1939, nr 1 (53), s. 36?67.
Kędzierski D.: W sprawie właściwej domeny prawa spółek kapitałowych, Przegląd Prawa Handlowego 2017, nr 10, s. 53?58.
Knight F.H.: Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, New York 1964.
Koller T., Goedhart M., Wessels D.: Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Hoboken 2010.
La Porta R., Lopez-de-Silanes F., Shleifer A.: The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins, Journal of Economic Literature 2008, nr 2 (46), s. 285?332.
Lauwers L., Willekens M.: Five Hundred Years of Bookkeeping: A Portrait of Luca Pacioli, Tijdschrift voor Economie en Management 1994, nr 3 (39),
s. 289?304.
Lemarchand Y.: The dark side of the result: self-financing and accounting choices within nineteenth-century French industry (w:) Accounting in France/La comptabilité en France: Historical Essays/Etudes Historiques, eds. Y. Lemarchand, R.H. Parker, Abingdon 2014, s. 127?149.
Lipson E.: The Economic History of England, Vol. I, The Middle Ages, London 1929.
Lipson E.: The Economic History of England, Vol. III, The Age of Mercantilism, London 1931.
Lipton P.: The Mythology of Salomon?s Case and the Law Dealing with the Tort Liabilities of Corporate Groups: An Historical Perspective, Monash University Law Review 2014, nr 2 (40), s. 452?487.
Lopez R.S.: The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages: 950?1350, Cambridge 1995.
Lubben S.J.: No Big Deal: The GM and Chrysler Cases in Context, American Bankruptcy Law Journal 2009, nr 4 (83), s. 531?547.
Lubben S.J.: Resolution, Orderly and Otherwise: B of A in OLA, University of Cincinnati Law Review 2013, nr 2 (81), s. 485?519.
Lubben S.J.: Corporate Finance, New York 2014.
Malberti C.: Shareholders? Rights in the Early Italian Companies: Agency Problems and Legal Strategies (w:) Origins of Shareholder Advocacy, ed. J.G.S. Koppell, New York 2011, s. 145?168.
McDaniel M.W.: Bondholders and Stockholders, The Journal of Corporation Law 1988, nr 2 (13), s. 205?315.
McKenna C.D.: The World?s Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge 2006.
Mitchell W.: An Essay on the Early History of the Law Merchant, Cambridge 1904.
Modigliani F., Miller M.H.: The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance and the Theory of Investment, The American Economic Review 1958, nr 3 (43), s. 261?297.
Muchlinski P.: The Development of German Corporate Law Until 1990: An Historical Reappraisal, German Law Journal 2013, nr 2 (14), s. 339?379.
Mülbert P.O., Birke M.: Legal Capital ? Is There a Case against the European Legal Capital Rules?, European Business Organization Law Review 2002, nr 3, s. 695?732.
Nobes C., Parker R.: Comparative International Accounting, Harlow 2010.
Opalski A.: Kapitał zakładowy. Zysk. Umorzenie, Warszawa 2002.
Opalski A.: Kapitał zakładowy: skuteczny instrument ochrony wierzycieli czy przestarzała koncepcja prawna? Próba porównania modeli ochrony wierzycieli w prawie państw europejskich i Stanów Zjednoczonych, Kwartalnik Prawa Prywatnego 2004, z. 2, s. 435?509.