Comparison of Law, Legal Transplants and International “Legal Fashion“ in German and Japanese Corporate Law

I. Comparison of Law, Legal Transplants and “Legal Fashion” | 1. Comparison of Law | 2. Legal Transplants | 3. “Legal Fashion“ | 4. No Free Lunches | II. From Corporate Law to Corporate Governance | III. Corporate Governance Codes as a “Must Have” Regulatory Tools | 1. Origins and International Dissemination | 2. Germany as an Early Convert | 3. Japan as a Late Convert | IV. Independent Directors as a State-of-the-Art Corporate Governance Device | 1. The Ubiquity of Independent Directors | 2. The Function of the Independent Director | 3. The Origin of the Independent Director | 4. The Anglo-American Independent Director as a Transplanted Legal Fashion | a) Germany: Outside or Independent Directors? | b) Japan: Independent Directors in an Insider-Oriented Corporate Governance Model | V. Outlook