2013년도 한국상사법학계 및 상사판례의 동향

Abstract

The year 2013 can be evaluated as the year that major reforms were initiated in diverse fields as the Park Geun-hye administration took office. The Ministry of Justice preannounced the legislation of the bill to partially revise the Korean Commercial Act on corporate governance, saying that since the global financial crisis, a growing number of people in countries worldwide have been turning their attention to desirable corporate governance and even in Korea people have been stressing the necessity of enhancing transparency in corporate management. As the Ministry preannounced the legislation of the bill, corporate governance resurfaced as the biggest current issue in the commercial law academic world and those in favor of or against the revision began to be deeply divided, which resulted in several seminars and public hearings. The Ministry of Justice hosted public hearings with regard to the revision of the Korean Commercial Act twice followed by a series of policy seminars and debates on "Measures to revise the Korean Commercial Act in connection with desirable corporate governance", "In search of Korean-style corporate governance", "Major issues involved in revising the bill on the Korean Commercial Act and its evaluation", "Major issues involved in revising the bill on the Korean Commercial Act and its policy orientation", "Measures to improve legislation for economic revitalization", and "Desirable corporate governance and its improvement". This article touched upon the major issues debated in public hearings, policy seminars, and debates in connection with the revision of the bill on the Korean Commercial Act regarding corporate governance, which was the most contentious topic of this year in the Korean commercial law academic world, examined major academies with regard to the Korean Commercial Act and their activities in 2013, and introduced major cases on commercial law this year.