A consideration of the German legislation governing the situation of public companies (Aktiengesellschaften) in a group of companies, taking account of a number of important decisions (involving considerable change in approach) from the Second Senate of the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) governing the position of private companies in such a group. The article is published in Amicus Curiae – Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by SALS at the IALS (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London).