자본거래와 손익거래: 개념과 한계

Capital-Revenue Transaction dichotomy is widely applied in various arguments of Korean corporate law. Historically it was derived from the general principle no. 3 of Japanese Accounting Principle, which also was derived from the SHM accounting principle of U.S. corporate accounting. In Korea it is included in the article 459 (1) of Commercial Code and has been used as a basis of argument in following occasions. First, it was argued that because issuance of new share is a capital transaction, there is no harm if it is issued under its fair value. Second, it was used as a basis of an argument that the capital transaction is exempt from the regulation of self-dealing by director of a corporation. Third, there was an argument that the preemptive right is not allowed the shareholder regarding the sale of treasury stock because the sale itself is the capital transaction. However, the raison d’etre of the dichotomy is to calculate the proper accounting of periodical profit and loss and to regulate the resources of distribution. The former is still valid but not directly connected to the function of Commercial Code, the latter is substituted by the current regulation of corporation law. Therefore it is not proper to put any other meaning on the dichotomy and to use it as a basis for some arguments just because certain transaction belongs to this or that.