Table 1
Legal origin and investors rights
This table presents data on measures of investor protection for 49 countries classi"ed by their legal origin. The source of the data is La Porta et al. (1998).
Panel A shows the measures of shareholder protection across legal origins. The`antidirector rights indexa is a summary measure of shareholder
protection. This index ranges from zero to six and is formed by adding one when: the country allows shareholders to mail their proxy vote to the"rm;
shareholders are not required to deposit their shares prior to the General Shareholders'. Meeting; cumulative voting or proportional representation of
minorities in the board of directors is allowed; an oppressed minorities mechanism is in place; the minimum percentage of share capital that entitles
a shareholder to call for an Extraordinary Shareholders'. Meeting is less than or equal to 10 percent (the sample median); shareholders have preemptive
rights that can only be waved by a shareholders', vote. The rest of the rows in Panel A show the percentage of countries within each legal origin for which
each component of the`antidirector rights indexais provided by the law. Panel B shows the measures of creditor protection across legal origins. The
`creditor rights indexais a summary measure of creditor protection. This index ranges from zero to four and is formed by adding one when: the country
imposes restrictions, such as creditors' consent or minimum dividends to"le for reorganization; secured creditors are able to gain possession of their
security once the reorganization petition has been approved (no automatic stay); secured creditors are ranked"rst in the distribution of the proceeds that
result from the disposition of the assets of a bankrupt"rm; the debtor does not retain the administration of its property pending the resolution of the
reorganization. The rest of the rows in Panel B show the percentage of countries within each legal origin for which each component of the`creditor rights
indexais provided by the law. Panel C shows measures of legal enforcement. `E$ciency of the judicial systemais an index ranging from zero to ten
representing the average of investors' assessments of conditions of the judicial system in each country between 1980}1983 (lower scores represent lower
e$ciency levels).`Corruptionais an index ranging from zero to ten representing the average of investors' assessments of corruption in government in each
country between 1982 and 1995 (lower scores represent higher corruption). `Accounting standardsais an index created by examining and rating
companies' 1990 annual reports on their inclusion or omission of 90 items falling in the categories of general information, income statements, balance
sheets, funds#ow statement, accounting standards, stock data, and special items.
Legal origin
Variables
Common
law (18
countries)
French civil
law (21
countries)
German
civil law
(6 countries)
Scandinavian
civil law
(4 countries)
World
average
(49 countries)
Panel A: Measures of shareholder protection
Antidirector rights index 4.00 2.33 2.33 3.00 3.00
Proxy by mail 39% 5% 0% 25% 18%
10 R. La Porta et al./Journal of Financial Economics 58 (2000) 3}27