The legal status of a shareholder: the problem of theory and practice (property and non-property rights of shareholders)

In this article, the author examines the legal status of the shareholder. To highlight the features of shareholders' rights in public and non-public joint-stock companies, the article uses a comparison method. The author substantiates the claim that the scope of rights depends on the publicity of a joint-stock company. Revealing the specifics of shareholders' rights, the author comes to the conclusion that, despite the available legal instruments for protecting the rights of minority shareholders, they are protected to a lesser extent than the rights of majority shareholders. In addition, the author focuses on the absence of the definition of "minority" itself. Based on his reasoning, the author proposes changes to corporate legislation to solve the identified problems.