This book was conceived and researched during a sabbatical I spent in 2012– 2013 at the Institut fu¨r deutsches und europa¨isches Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsrecht at the Faculty of Law at the University of Heidelberg. I thank my long-time friend and colleague professor Peter-Christian Mu¨ller-Graff for inviting me and taking me under his wings. I also thank my other colleagues at the law faculty in Heidelberg for a wonderful time. My year in Heidelberg was financially supported by the E.ON Stipendienfonds and Norwegian Non-fiction Literature Fund. I would like to thank J?rn Jacobsen, Kristen Rundle, and Erling Kielland, who all read versions of my manuscript and contributed valuable comments. Also thanks to colleagues in Bergen, Heidelberg, Helsinki, Mannheim, Oslo, and Vienna for comments and discussions to my presentations of themes from the book. The book draws on sources in several different languages. Unless otherwise indicted the translations into English are by the author.