“Germany’s Most Important and Successful Legal Export”

The Limited Liability Company

Abstract

Marcus Lutter, a German legal scholar and commercial law expert, described the limited liability company as the “most important and most successful export article in German law”. This statement is by no means an exaggeration, as the introduction of this new form of company in Germany was followed with great interest from the outset, and not just in German-speaking countries. The GmbH has now spread to all market-economy countries, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon states, and has become the favoured form of company not only in its home country but in many other countries. In this study, we present the development of this type of company in Germany, its rapid spread in Europe and its reflections in Hungary.