Les catégories d'actionnaires

It is commonly accepted that there is not a single, but several types of shareholders. This has become a fact of law given the increasing number of rules, in every area of business law, which only apply to certain categories of shareholders rather than to all shareholders. A global study of shareholders categories will thus permit to determine, for each of these rules, which category of shareholders is the appropriate one. Such an approach entails first of all to raise the question of the criteria of shareholders categories. One criterion, suggested by scholars and adopted in positive law, focuses on shareholder psychology. Such criterion must be rejected, its adoption being, from a legal standpoint, neither possible nor useful. Another criterion, which until now has never been considered in its own right, is shareholder power. Such criterion should be recognized, in so far as it could both improve the law and enhance our understanding of it. The study of shareholders categories leads us next to consider them individually within a typical shareholders classification. From there, an overall picture emerges of the wide ranging possibilities of shareholders powers. Indeed, if the different powers of shareholders are compared and contrasted, it becomes easier both to define them and use them correctly legally.