The present paper gives an impressionist view of the evolution of Belgian company law over the period of existence of the law review in which the paper is planned to be published. It illustrates the increasingly rapid changes of the legislation. The first phase, up to the mid 80's being largely influenced by the EU harmonization directives, while the more recent years are more clearly determined by national and international market developments. These are increasingly shaping company law, in competition with the law of neighbouring states. Attention is drawn to the impact some important takeovers are having on thinking about company law, while recently the corporate governance debate - and draft legislation - is likely to affect the structure of company groups that previously dominated the Belgian scene.