Comparative Corporate Governance -- Research Resources

For presentation to Prof. Nicola Sharpe's class on Corporate Governance, 27 February 2008, by Irene Berkey, Foreign and International Law Librarian (e-mail: i-berkey@law.northwestern.edu or phone: 312-503-8477). This is a selective list. For additional resources see the following pages of the Pritzker Legal Research Center web site:

• Comparative Securities Regulation—Research Resources
• Foreign and Comparative Law by Country or Region
• Trade, Business, and Economic Law

Multi-country resources:

• Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest.
  • LexisNexis (INTDIG):
    • Legal
    • Area of Law - By Topic
    • International Law
    • Find Statutes, Regulations & Administrative Materials
    • Martindale-Hubbell(R) International Law Digest
  Detailed summary of laws of many countries. Usually prepared by a leading law firm in the country and revised annually. Within each country, arranged alphabetically by broad topic.
  Do segment search: Country__________ and Category "Business Organizations."
• Digest of Commercial Laws of the World (Oceana, 1966-) (looseleaf) Brazil (2004) in vol. 1; Mexico (2005) in vol.3; Nigeria (2005) in vol. 3; United Kingdom not included, but see England and Wales (2006) in vol. 2. Note that Germany and Japan are not included.
  I,MON K 1005.4 .D54 1966
• Doing Business project The World Bank Group. The project "provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 178 countries …." For texts of laws click on "Law Library," then under "Choose Economies," click on "Select Economy." Translations are unofficial. Also explore the site for reports, country profiles, etc.
• Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) - Database of international business intelligence, including commercial, financial, investment, trade information on, and profiles for, over 200 countries. Under each country see especially: Country Commerce > Organising an Investment.

Legal Research Guides

For additional resources see the following page of the Pritzker Legal Research Center web site: Foreign and Comparative Law by Country or Region

• Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World , by Thomas H. Reynolds and Arturo A. Flores ("Reynolds and Flores"). The single most important bibliographic resource for foreign law research. Includes introductory materials (in-depth discussion of the legal history and legal publication), major publications, and citations to official sources for laws on specific subjects. It also cites to unofficial sources for detailed discussion and/or English language translations. Under each country, see headings "Business Associations," "Company Law," and "Corporations."

General Country Information

• General Resources by Country or Region. Pritzker Legal Research Center.

Finding Books

Finding Books at Northwestern University

• NUcat Searching Tips: Using NUcat to search for books on a topic.
• The preceding section explains how clicking on the "Library of Congress Subject Headings" in a catalog record can help to focus a search. Subject headings can also be searched directly. From the NUcat "Search" tab, search in "Subject Heading" or "Browse Subject Heading" Some Library of Congress Subject Headings are listed below. (The dashes and parentheses can be omitted.)
  consolidation and merger of corporations
  corporate governance
  corporate governance -- law and legislation
  corporation law -- Great Britain
  corporations
  corporations -- law and legislation
  stockholders -- legal status, laws, etc.

Finding Books at Other Libraries

• WorldCat . WorldCat is a catalog with records from thousands of libraries. It can be used to identify materials not held by Northwestern University. Northwestern University students can place interlibrary loan requests either directly through WorldCat or via the interlibrary loan request form found on the library's home page.

Finding Articles and Papers

Journal articles are published in a wide range of subject areas relating to country research, such as history, politics, economics, sociology, gender studies, and religion. In order to identify relevant articles it is best to search the various specialized indexes to which Northwestern University subscribes. The following pages of the library's web site list many such indexes. Once a relevant article is identified, it may be possible to access an electronic version of the text by clicking on the "Find It At NU" buttion," or by doing a journal title search in NUcat for the name of the journal (not the title of the article). When searching an index, an "advanced" search is often easier to use than the basic search. When you find a relevant article, clicking on the "descriptors" or "subject headings" for that record may lead you to other relevant citations.

• Find Legal Articles (mostly from U.S. and Anglo-American journals, including foreign and international law topics)
• Finding Articles and Papers on Foreign and Comparative Law (for articles on law of countries other than the U.S. and comparative law methodology, from journals published both in the U.S. and abroad)
• Finding Articles and Papers on International Law (for public and private international law)
• Find Non-Law Articles (for subjects in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences)

The following indexes are especially recommended for researching comparative corporate governance issues:

• Legal Journals Index (Westlaw: LJI). An index of articles in English from legal journals published in the United Kingdom and Europe as well as journals covering topics pertaining to the laws of the European Community and its member states. Sample searches:
  "institutional investors" and "united kingdom" uk
  stakeholder /s germany
  "voting rights" /p germany
  stakeholder /s japan
• ABI-INFORM - "Citations, abstracts, and selected full-text of articles from 1800+ business and management journals." Sample searches:
  corporate governance and brazil
  boards of directors and japan
  stakeholders and Nigeria
• Business Source Premier "[P]rovides nearly 3,300 full text scholarly publications, including more than 1,000 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to the full text, this database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 4,100 journals. This database offers information in nearly every area of business including management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more." Sample search:
  corporate governance and japan
• Social Science Research Network - A service providing scholarly research papers, working papers, and journals in numerous social science disciplines, including law, economics, and financial economics. Sample searches:
  executive compensation japan
  corporate governance nigeria
  corporate governance mexico
  institutional investors germany
  shareholders protection united kingdom

Corporate Governance Links

• CorpGov.net International Corporate Governance Links.

News Sources

• Lexis .
  • News & Business
  • Country & Region (excluding U.S.)
• Westlaw
  • Business & News
  • Global News

Selected Resources for Individual Countries:

Brazil

• International Encyclopaedia of Laws. Corporations and Partnerships. Editor, Koen Geens. Kluwer Law and Taxation, 1991- (looseleaf). Brazil chapter (2003) in volume 1.
  I,MON K 1301 .C67 1991

Germany

• Business Transactions in Germany. Dennis Campbell, general editor, 1983 (loose-leaf).
  N,EGA KK 2057 .B87 vols. 1-4 and suppl.
  Also available in LexisNexis (BTGERM).

  • Legal
  • Area of Law - By Topic
  • International Law
  • Find Laws by Country or Region
  • Germany
  • Business Transactions in Germany
• Comparative Corporate Governance: Shareholders as a Rule-Maker, by Petri Mäntysaari. Springer, 2005. Chapter on Germany. Also available online.
  N,EAA KJE 2460 .M36 2005
• Doing Business in Europe (Sweet & Maxwell, 2001-) (looseleaf) "Germany" chapter in volume 1.
  N,EAA KJE 925.5 .C662

Japan

• Japanese Business Law, ed. by Gerald Paul McAlinn. Kluwer Law International, 2007. Chapters “Corporations” and “Corporate Governance and M&A.”
  N,HJA KNX 920 .J357 2007
• Doing Business in Japan. General Editor, Zentaro Kitagawa. Matthew Bender, 1980 (looseleaf) Also available on Lexis (DJAPN). Legal > Area of Law-By Topic > International Law > Find Laws by Country or Region > Japan > Doing Business in Japan.
  N,HJA KNX 78 .B87D65 1980
• International Encyclopaedia of Laws. Corporations and Partnerships. Editor, Koen Geens. Kluwer Law and Taxation, 1991- (looseleaf). Japan chapter (2001) in volume 3.
  I,MON K 1301 .C67 1991

Mexico

• Meilssa Johns and Jean Michel Lobet, "Protecting Investors From Self-Dealing" Doing Business project, The World Bank Group.

Nigeria

• Business Law in Nigeria, by Aminu Kado Kurfi. Benchmark Publishers Ltd., 2005.
  AFRICANA 346.66907 K96b

United Kingdom

• Doing Business in Europe (Sweet & Maxwell, 2001-) (looseleaf) "United Kingdom" chapter in volume 2.
  N,EAA KJE 925.5 .C662
• Mayson, French & Ryan on Company Law, by Derek French, Stephen W. Mayson, and Christopher L. Ryan. 24th ed., 2007-2008. Oxford University Press, 2007.
  MON KD 2079 .F74 2007
• Palmer’s Company Law. Sweet and Maxwell, 1898- (looseleaf). A multi-volume treatise.
  MON KD 2079 .P35
  Also available on Westlaw (UKCB-PALMERS)

  • All Databases
  • International/Worldwide Materials
  • Europe and the United Kingdom
  • Individual Country Materials

  • United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland)
  • By Practice Area
  • Corporate Business

  • Westlaw UK Corporate Business Commentary Subscription
  • Commentary
• Doing Business in the United Kingdom. A treatise published by Matthew Bender, available on LexisNexis :
  • Legal
  • Area of Law - By Topic
  • International Law
  • Find Laws by Country or Region
  • United Kingdom
  • Commentaries and Treatises
  • Doing Business in the United Kingdom