On Shareholders' Rights

Under the principal of the separation of ownership and management in modern company, most shareholders don't participate in the company affairs directly. As a result the right of company management and decision-making is seized by directors and managers. Because it is difficult for shareholders to get sufficient information of the company management, the directorate and managers can abuse their preponderant status to harm shareholders'interest. Shareholders'right to know is a very important right for shareholders, especially for minor shareholders. For minor shareholders, this right is an instrument to supervise the managers. At the same time it is also the basis for shareholders to actualize their other rights. This paper is established in internal resource. The author writes the paper in order to present the assumptions on how to perfect our system of shareholders'rights to learn the corporate truth, by assimilating overseas legislative experience, the author advances some suggestions to perfect the system of shareholders'right to know in China.This paper is consisted with preamble, writing and conclusion which study the shareholders'right to know.Part One is the basic analysis on the shareholders'right to know. In the first place, the author analyses the concept of the shareholders'right to know. The author believes that it is not a concept of legislation, but a theoretic concept for the study of company law. In the second place, the paper studies its character. In the end, on the basis of review of company law of developed countries and China, the paper expatiate on the basic content of the shareholders'right to know Part Two is the theoretic basic and importance of the shareholders'right to know. Firstly, the paper analyzes the theoretic basic of the shareholders'right to know. The author believes that there are four aspects about its theoretic basic. Secondly, the paper discusses the importance of the shareholders'right to know in detail.Part Three is the exertion and actualization of the shareholders'right to know. In the first instance, the paper discusses about the entity, the range, the procedure and the limit of the exertion of the right. Then, the paper advances three conditions to really actualize the shareholders'right to know.Part Four is the perfection of the shareholders'right to know in Chinese Company Law. Firstly, the paper evaluates the actuality of the shareholders'right to know in Chinese company law. Secondly, the paper points out the advantages and the disadvantages about the shareholders'right to know in Chinese company law. In the end, the author brings out some suggestions to solve the problems.