Introduction

Abstract

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 corporate finance helps the firm to reach its legal objectives (management of cash flow and the exchange of goods, management of risk, management of agency relationships, and management of information). When trying to reach its it legal objectives, the firm typically applies generic legal tools and practices (incorporation and choice of business form, contracts, regulation of internal processes through compliance and otherwise, typical ways to manage agency relationships, and typical ways to manage information problems) and takes into account legal rules that belong to different traditional fields of law (contract law, company law, banking law, ax law, competition law, and so forth).²In corporate finance law, these legal toolsand practices are used in the contex of all decisions that influence the firm’s finances (investment, funding, exit, and existential decisions).

“Wenn man eine Erkenntnis als Wissenschaft darstellen will, so muβ man zuvor das Unterscheidende, was sie mit keiner andern gemein hat, und was ihr also eigentümlich ist, genau bestimmen kÖnnen; widrigenfalls die Grenzen aller Wissenschaften in einander laufen, und keine derselben, ihrer Natur nach, gründlich abgehandelt werden kann.„¹