Introduction to the Legal Framework for Corporate Finance

Abstract

Abstract This chapter anchors the book by identifying the private company limited by shares as the most popular organizational form for modern businesses of economic significance and outlining its advantages as an organizational form through which to limit financial risks and to raise large amounts of finance from investors whilst keeping the day-to-day running of the business concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of managers. The chapter explains how corporate finance law and regulation draw on company law, capital markets law, commercial law, and insolvency law, and outlines the interrelationship between law, regulation, and market practice. The chapter also provides a roadmap through the principal sources of law and regulation relating to corporate finance practice in the UK, including post-Brexit adaptations.