Book Reviews

• Author: Corwin D. Edwards
• Published date: 01 June 1975
• Date: 01 June 1975
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X7502000209
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

BOOK

REVIEWS

433

Harold

Rasch, Deuisches Konzernrecht, Cologne, Berlin,

Bonn, &Munich: Carl Heymanns Verlag (1974),437 pp.,

125 German marks.

This revised edition of Dr. Rasch's book about "concern"

law supersedes the

fourth

edition published in 1968.

It

takes

account of legislative developments such as the business or-

ganization law of 1972, recent modifications of the

tax

laws,

and

the modifications of competition law in 1973.

It

also

has been modified by recent decisions both under relevant

parts

of German law

and

under relevant applications of the

laws of the

European

Communities.

In German law a"concern" is conceived as a group of

legally independent enterprises

that

are

under a common

direction. Since such combinations developed in a setting

in which there was no broad prohibition of restrictive agree-

ments, several types

and

gradations of affiliation

and

depen-

dence evolved

and

attained

separate

recognition as legal

entities. The more complex types of affiliated enterprises

became decreasingly distinguishable

from

cartels. The im-

portance of the distinction between

internal

affiliation

and

external contract

has

been restored by competition law

that

differentiates

sharply

between its

treatment

of cartel agree-

ments

and

its

treatment

of dominant firms.

In various respects, the law now applicable to affiliated

enterprises has been modified by new legislation and by court

decisions. This authoritative

treatment

summarizes

its

pres-

ent status.

It

explores in considerable detail the forms of

organization, law relevant to the

internal

structure

of an

affiliated enterprise, applicable

tax

law,

and

the law relevant

to concentrated enterprises.

Two

parts

of

it

are

particularly relevant to an

interest

in competition policy. The first

pertains

to

patent

and

trade-

mark

licensing and other forms of legally permissible agree-

ments

that

regulate markets. The second is a section about