Introduction

Derivative actions, an ingenious invention of common law, have found their way into national laws across continents, with varying degrees of success. This recent trend of legislative activity has yet to reach Greece though. This chapter, introducing this work, sets and explains the objective for this research to investigate whether the introduction of the derivative action is desirable and whether and how it may improve shareholder protection in public limited companies and outlines the approach to be followed in the ensuing chapters and the issues to be considered therein. It also delineates the core differences in the academic discussion and legislative approaches internationally, before focusing on Europe. It is shown that the selected jurisdictional scope of this research not only serves the objectives of this book, but also represents much of the law and practice in this broader area.