Corporate law in the United States is a collection of over 50 different systems of corporate law, or one law for each state. Two sources of law are, however particularly important: the Model Business Corporation Act (MBCA), drafted by the American Bar Association was influential and adopted by twenty four states; and because companies are free to incorporate in any state under the United States Constitution, regardless of whether they are doing business or are headquartered there, many corporations have found Delaware's laws and specialized courts attractive. More than half of US corporations are incorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL), and Delaware corporate law is particularly influential. The corporate laws of large states such as New York and California are also important.
State laws govern corporations' mechanics, but many federal laws are also applicable. Publicly traded corporations must comply with federal securities laws, the most important of which are the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOXA) imposed many new rules on public corporations. Corporations must also comply with the wide variety of federal laws governing employment, environmental protection, food and drug regulation, intellectual property and other areas.
Read more about Corporate Law In The United States: History, Directors' Duties, Mergers and Acquisitions, Derivative Suits, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words united states, corporate, law, united and/or states:
“Today’s difference between Russia and the United States is that in Russia everybody takes everybody else for a spy, and in the United States everybody takes everybody else for a criminal.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
““It’s hard enough to adjust [to the lack of control] in the beginning,” says a corporate vice president and single mother. “But then you realize that everything keeps changing, so you never regain control. I was just learning to take care of the belly-button stump, when it fell off. I had just learned to make formula really efficiently, when Sarah stopped using it.””
—Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)
“The law of humanity ought to be composed of the past, the present, and the future, that we bear within us; whoever possesses but one of these terms, has but a fragment of the law of the moral world.”
—Edgar Quinet (1803–1875)
“The popular colleges of the United States are turning out more educated people with less originality and fewer geniuses than any other country.”
—Caroline Nichols Churchill (1833–?)
“Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)