영국의 2006년 회사법상 이사의 회사성공촉진의무 및 그에 관한 평가

The basic structure of company law in the UK was completed in the 1800s in the Victorian era through case law. Thus, even legal experts had difficulty in understanding the sentences and concepts, and much time and effort was needed to know the contents. In 1998, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) established the Company Law Review Steering Group (CLRG) and, after eight years of work, the Companies Act 2006 was established. The key objectives of the enactment are ①to strengthen shareholder participation and long-term investment (to enhance shareholder engagement and a long term investment culture) ②to create a better regulatory environment for small companies(to ensure better regulation and a “Think Small First” approach), ③to make a company easier to establish and manage (to make it easier to set up and run a company), and ④to increase flexibility of company law (to provide flexibility for the future). Therefore, there is simplification and efficiency to match the business environment of the 21st century and an environment in which legal costs can be reduced to make it easier for use by directors, the general public, etc. The basic principles behind the enactment are to secure simplicity and accessibility. From this process, the Companies Act 2006 (Part 10, A Company’s Directors) provides for the general duties of directors in Sections 170 through 177 (Chapter 2: General Duties of Directors). There are seven types of general obligations of directors, and these are introduced briefly in this article along with a detailed analysis of the duty of directors to promote the success of the company (Duty to promote the success of the company). Also, for the case when a director is in violation of the duty to promote the success of the company, we examined the means of accountability. Finally, we briefly described the implications of the duty of directors to promote the success of the company under Korean corporate law.