Concept and Content of Corporate Rights as an Object of Civil Law Regulations

Abstract

During the years of independence, entrepreneurship in Ukraine has undergone a significant evolution. The opening of domestic markets and stable economic growth contributed to the emergence of a significant number of foreign investors who became participants (shareholders) of domestic companies. Along with foreign investors in Ukraine, European approaches to business structuring, building a model of relations between partners, standards of corporate governance, ethics, etc. began to be applied. The development of corporate law was significantly influenced by Ukraine's recognition of private property and guaranteeing equality of all forms of ownership. In view of the above, the issue of essential content of corporate rights, in particular their role in civil law relations, becomes especially important. Assigning corporate rights to a certain type of objects of civil law and distinguishing the features of their turnover requires, first of all, determining the legal nature of corporate rights, identifying the characteristics and formulating their definition. The most common views on the legal nature of corporate relations are the approaches of civil doctrine, business law, as well as the so-called integrated approach. Thus, the definition of corporate relations is inextricably linked with the definition of the range of legal entities for which we can generally speak of the existence of corporate rights. In legal science, different views are expressed on this issue. Some scholars note that corporate rights can have only members of corporations, and the corporations, in turn, it should be considered only those companies in which the share capital is divided into shares, participants are entitled to part of the company's profits and to participate in its management.  Taking into account the specific legal nature of corporate rights, the latter should be considered a special and independent object of civil law, characterized by its own, not inherent in any other object features. Ensuring proper civil circulation of such objects requires amendments to the current legislation, first of all, the recognition of them as the objects of civil rights. Undoubtedly, such changes should be comprehensive and aimed at improving the civil circulation of corporate rights between the parties to civil relations. Based on the above, it is proposed to introduce a legal definition of corporate rights, setting it out as follows: corporate rights are the object of civil law, which is a set of rights of a person whose share is determined in the authorized capital (property) of a business organization, a person in the management of a business organization, receiving a certain share of profits (dividends) of the organization and assets in the event of liquidation of the latter in accordance with the law, as well as other powers provided by law and statutory documents.