The case law of Central & Eastern Europe

Having realized the importance of courts in shaping the contours of law even outside the common legal systems, this work uniquely endevors to fill the gap by this collection of empirically-based analyses of developments in the economies and connected laws of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republik, Hungary, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Ukraine - done through the prism of court cases. As such it is a tool for understanding the unique legal environment of Central and Eastern Europe by way of casting a closer glance at such idiosyncratic developments as re-privatization (the Ukrainian Kryvorizhstal’ saga), struggling with such brand new phenomena as takeovers (the Serbian Knjaz Miloš), domestication of leasing or determining the confines of the corporate façade together with the linked question of the liability of shareholders and managers. “One of the perceptions established in the legal systems of Central and Eastern Europe which still needs to be changed is that regarding the relevance of court practice. During the past decades, court decisions were not regularly published in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, and if they were, these were often very short (too short) summaries. […] Publishing cases, and dealing with published cases assumes a culture – and it also has consequences. It assumes a culture in which court decisions are important, and in which they truly contribute to the development of legal rules and legal thinking. If decisions are being published, they will become the subject matter of comments, of praises or criticism. They are becoming important. This also means the judges would feel more the consequences; not only the consequences of the outcome, but also the consequences of their reasoning. This will in all likelihood represent an important impetus. […] This book addresses the first responses of legal practice to new economic concepts and problems in Central and Eastern Europe […] and it is breaking new ground.” - Professor Tibor Várady