A German: partenreederei (pronounced as /de/; Plural: German: Partenreedereien) is a type of partnership under German and German-influenced maritime law for the joint ownership of a merchant vessel. Each partner, or German: partenreeder, functions as an equity partner, sharing proportionately in the proceeds, as well as the corporate debt of the business—this liability is not limited.[1] This form of ownership is related to the Dutch Dutch; Flemish: [[partenrederij]] system that ultimately gave rise to joint-stock companies, and dates back to the Middle Ages.[2]
As a system of business organization, German: partenreederei was very common in the Baltic Sea and in England in the 1870s.[3]
See also: Law of Germany. The persistence of German: partenreederei is one of several aspects of German maritime law that, according to Pokrant and Gran, has led to it being widely regarded as outdated and difficult to understand.[4] In 2013, changes to the German commercial code (German: [[handelsgesetzbuch]] or HGB), barred the creation of new German: partenreedereien. Those still existing at that time were not required to reorganize.
See also: Law of Austria. After the fall of Nazi Germany, the Austrian legal system retained many influences from German law. One of these was the ability to form a German: partenreederei. On 1 January 2007, the Trade Law Amendment Act (de|Handelsrechts-Änderungsgesetz) entered into force, preventing the formation of any more German: partenreedereien, but allowing those that existed previously to continue.