Interesting to note, even in the United States, it's not entirely clear what you do/do not own when you purchase stock. It's not even clear as to whether your

Interesting to note, even in the United States, it's not entirely clear what you do/do not own when you purchase stock. It's not even clear as to whether your broker owns the stock that you purchased. And, as it turns out, this actually has very real-world legal ramifications. See: http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-13/t-rowe-price-voted-for-the-dell-buyout-by-accident http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-13/t-rowe-pri...