| Abstract [eng] |
This thesis examines definition of shares, as a legal category, and its significance to the company law. Nevertheless shares are not only legal but economical category as well, however this thesis research dimension is clearly defined by its topic itself – definition of shares in the company law – for this reason shares are only analyzed from the legal perspective, quite clearly distancing it from the economic perspective. Respectively, this thesis reveals legislative and doctrinal definition of shares, as well as definition described in other sources, which helps to find out how shares are understood by the society. It is important to note that mentioned issues are analyzed not only from the perspective of the Republic of Lithuania but also from the context of legal systems of other selected countries – The United Kingdom, The Kingdom of the Netherlands, The Federal Republic of Germany and The United States of America. The comparative analysis performed in this thesis leads to the conclusion that shares are understood similarly in all countries, which were analyzed in this thesis. Knowing the definition of shares helps to identify the significance of it in the company law, which manifest that depending on the definition of shares, in every country rights, privileges and duties conferred by the shareholders may be different. Also, it was determined that every analyzed country distinguish two main types of a rights granted to the shareholders – property and non-property rights, which are protected regardless whether they are directly expressed in the definition of shares or not. The research is not limited to the legal systems of the selected countries, but the analysis was broaden to the European Union’s initiative to unify the laws regulating company law, and to establish a common law, which harmonizes and adjust the best practice of the company law regulation from the different countries of the European Union. The aforementioned law authors are aware of the importance of the unifying of definition of shares in different countries; therefore they express the definition of shares as neutral as possible, adapting it to all distinctive legal systems. In the author’s opinion, this approach is the best suited to the current European and other countries, emphasizing the importance of the international relations and in order to faciliate the trade developement between the countries. |
