Legal liability of the members of the board of directors in the case of transfer of management and representation power in joint-stock companies

Although the management or representation authority in joint stock companies is used by the board of directors as a rule, it is not common in practice that all of the said authorities are personally exercised by the board of directors, especially in publicly held or large-scale partnerships. For this reason, in the law, the board of directors is authorized to determine the management organization of the company by delegating the management or representation authority to one or more of the existing board members or to third parties in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6102, 367/I and 370/II has been recognized. Delegation of powers to people who are specialized in company management and have sufficient professional experience, on the one hand, ensures professionalization in the company, and on the other hand, as a rule, legal responsibility that may arise in this context together with the delegated powers will be deemed to have been transferred, thus limiting the legal liability of the members of the board of directors. In case of a valid transfer of management or representation powers, the legal responsibility of the members of the board of directors regarding the delegated powers; limited to the reasonable care obligation that they must show in the selection of the executive directors, in the instructions to be given to them and under the supervision of the executive directors. In our study, the issue of how the legal responsibility of the members of the board of directors will arise in cases of valid and invalid delegation of authority has been examined in detail by including the opinions and judicial decisions in the Swiss law.