A heavily debated topic, the evolution of shareholders’ duties risks the transformation of the very concept of shareholder primacy, crucially associated with shareholder rights. Offering a distinctive and comprehensive examination of both current and forthcoming enforcement mechanisms in the area of shareholder duties, this timely book provides an exhaustive analysis of the many issues related to these mechanisms, and considers the ongoing challenges surrounding their implementation.
It is often assumed that shareholders have rights, not duties. In recent years, however, this assumption has come under intense scrutiny in all aspects of company law and capital market law -legislation, the courts, soft law, and scholarship - and, in Europe especially, major changes are under way across a diverse spectrum all the way from revised contractual arrangements to mandatory statutory provisions. Such a shift has important implications for the fundamentals of European company law, and there is a need to examine shareholders' duties and to consider where this trend is taking shareholders and their stance in law. This focused collection of essays by twenty notable scholars addresses this complex subject from a highly informative and useful variety of perspectives. Examining shareholders' duties along three axes - types of investee companies, types of shareholders, and types of business situations - the essays deal with such topics and issues as the following: - shareholders' duties as reflections of the interests they are intended to safeguard; - shareholders' duties to society; - shareholders' disclosure obligations; - duties of parent companies; - institutional investor's fiduciary duty; - how regulatory duties constrain value-reducing forms of opportunism; - the state's continuing duties in the transformation of state-owned companies; - significant shareholders' duties in transactions with the company; and - powerful shareholders' duty not to abuse right. Examining the implications of this shift in discourse - how shareholders' duties are coming to the fore under the impetus of legislation, legal doctrine, case law, and enforcement strategies - as well as its ideological underpinnings, this book offers a comprehensive and in-depth consideration of this rapidly developing field. It will prove of inestimable value not only to policymakers and academics, but also to investors and practitioners committed to creating conditions favourable to sustainable economic growth and responsible business behaviour.
The corporate governance systems of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States are often characterized as a single 'Anglo-American' system prioritizing shareholders' interests over those of other corporate stakeholders. Such generalizations, however, obscure substantial differences across the common-law world. Contrary to popular belief, shareholders in the United Kingdom and jurisdictions following its lead are far more powerful and central to the aims of the corporation than are shareholders in the United States. This book presents a new comparative theory to explain this divergence and explores the theory's ramifications for law and public policy. Bruner argues that regulatory structures affecting other stakeholders' interests - notably differing degrees of social welfare protection for employees - have decisively impacted the degree of political opposition to shareholder-centric policies across the common-law world. These dynamics remain powerful forces today, and understanding them will be vital as post-crisis reforms continue to take shape.
This book advances an innovative, multi-jurisdictional argument for the necessity of company law reform to reorient companies towards environmental sustainability.
There's never been a greater likelihood a company and its key people will become embroiled in a cross-border investigation. But emerging unscarred is a challenge. Local laws and procedures on corporate offences differ extensively - and can be contradictory. To extricate oneself with minimal cost requires a nuanced ability to blend understanding of the local law with the wider dimension and, in particular, to understand where the different countries showing an interest will differ in approach, expectations or conclusions. Against this backdrop, GIR has published the second edition of The Practitioner's Guide to Global Investigation. The book is divided into two parts with chapters written exclusively by leading names in the field. Using US and UK practice and procedure, Part I tracks the development of a serious allegation (whether originating inside or outside a company) - looking at the key risks that arise and the challenges it poses, along with the opportunities for its resolution. It offers expert insight into fact-gathering (including document preservation and collection, witness interviews); structuring the investigation (the complexities of cross-border privilege issues); and strategising effectively to resolve cross-border probes and manage corporate reputation.Part II features detailed comparable surveys of the relevant law and practice in jurisdictions that build on many of the vital issues pinpointed in Part I.
The book provides an analysis of the general duties of directors contained in Chapter 2 Part 10 of the Companies Act 2006, addressing aspects of the law that are highly relevant to such duties.
This book assembles the world's most authoritative specialists for a comparative analysis of the enforcement of corporate and securities laws in thirteen national jurisdictions. It examines the enforcement of corporate and securities laws across the globe and across different legal and political systems from an in-depth comparative perspective.
Shareholders throughout the world are becoming more assertive in pursuing their rights against companies and directors. The law is developing in all jurisdictions to make it easier for shareholders to assert their rights by bringing claims in front of the court. Recent cases have seen a growth in both institutional shareholders such as pension funds and groups of individual shareholders taking action. Shareholder Claims provides practical guidance on bringing claims including derivative claims under the UK Companies Act 2006, and claims under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, equivalent procedure in European centres and class action procedure in USA, Canada and Australia. Written for both shareholders taking action and companies defending themselves.
