협동조합의 자율성과 사적자치(私的自治)로서 정관자치(定款自治)에 관한 법적 연구

Every Cooperative has its own articles (‘by-laws’), providing internal norm under the national legal system. It is important that the autonomy of a cooperative and its member could be reached by autonomy of cooperative by-laws (‘Satzungautonomie’ in German). Without ‘Satzungautonomie’, any cooperatives can’t realize ICA principles. This study focuses on “the autonomy of articles of association”, another form of private autonomy (freedom of contract) in field of organizations or groups. In general, enterprise law consists of compulsory articles considering public order (‘l’ordre public’ in French) regulating Investor-Owned Firm (IOF). Korean Supreme Court held to deny the nature of compulsory articles applying to special personal IOF in some cases. Futhermore, this jurisprudence can be invoked to Patron-Owned Firm, especially cooperative, considering its personal and mutual reliance character. Under this rule, individual cooperative can regulate its own membership. Special cooperative laws in Korea have not yet accepted this rule, while either Japanese or German law has accepted this rule. This autonomy rule is necessary for cooperatives to realize the ICA principles.