This book conducts an interdisciplinary and comparative examination of tort liabilities of multinational enterprises (MNEs). It examines the social, economic, managerial and legal characteristics of MNEs and compares the findings of this examination to the current understanding of MNEs in the way that tort liability is applied to them. Existing laws and principles related to liability of MNEs are explored from a variety of jurisdictions with the aim of assessing whether these laws are adequate for the challenges that modern MNEs create. Muzaffer Eroglu also proposes solutions to the problems of tort liability of MNEs. Comparing the theory of control in existing laws and the theory of control in business management structure, Multinational Enterprises and Tort Liabilities will be of great interest to academics, researchers, students and practitioners. It will also appeal to NGOs particularly interested with the liabilities of MNEs for their human rights breaches.
Multinational Enterprises and the Law presents the only comprehensive, contemporary, and interdisciplinary account of the various techniques used to regulate multinational enterprises (MNEs) at the national, regional and multilateral levels. In addition it considers the effects of corporate self-regulation upon the development of the legal order in this area. Split into four parts the book firstly deals with the conceptual basis for MNE regulation, explaining the growth of MNEs, their business and legal forms, the relationship between them and the effects of a globalising economy and society upon the evolution of regulatory agendas in the field. Part II covers the main areas of economic regulation including the limits of national and regional jurisdiction over MNE activities, controls and liberalization of entry and establishment; tax and company, and competition law. Part III introduces the social dimension of MNE regulation covering labour rights, human rights, and environmental issues, and Part IV deals with the contribution of international law and organizations to MNE regulation and to the control of investment risks, covering the main provisions found in international investment agreements and their recent interpretation by international tribunals.
This leading text in the field covers all the major regulatory areas relating to the operations of multinational enterprises, analysing them not only in a legal but also a political and economic context. It is a definitive reference work for students, researchers, and practitioners working with multinational enterprises.
Multinational corporate groups are important actors in today’s global economy, with the power to impact the masses through their activities. National legal systems, which usually have no extraterritorial authority, remain insufficient to regulate the activities of multinational corporate groups, which operate worldwide, not only in the countries where the parent companies reside (home country), but also in countries where the subsidiaries operate (host countries). The mentioned lack of an effective legislation leads to an unjust imbalance – to the benefit of multinational corporate groups and to the detriment, especially, of involuntary creditors, such as tort victims of corporate activities, which predominantly concern human rights abuses and environmental violations. Against this backdrop, the book firstly assesses the position of multinational corporate groups in international law and then discusses potential reforms to corporate law that would allow for a multi-stakeholder approach. It analyses certain aspects of Turkish tort law that could potentially accommodate liability claims against the parent companies of multinational corporate groups for damage incurred due to their transnational subsidiaries’ activities (referred to as ‘foreign direct liability’ in legal doctrine). To this end, the potential legal grounds of fault liability and strict liability are assessed under Turkish law, with a particular focus on the duty of care, in comparison with the corresponding case law in the UK and the Netherlands. Mandatory human rights due diligence is also analysed with a view to proposing a new regulation in Turkish law. Lastly, the aspects of foreign direct liability claims related to private international law are assessed in order to answer the questions of jurisdiction and applicable law within the scope of a comparative legal study.
Theories of enterprise liability have, historically, had a significant influence on the development of various aspects of the law of torts. Enterprise liability has impacted upon both statutory and common law rules. Prime examples would include laws on workmen's compensation and products liability. Of late, in a number of jurisdictions, enterprise liability has been a powerful catalyst for change in the employer's responsibilities towards third parties by prompting changes to the law on vicarious liability. The results have been seen most dramatically where the employer's responsibility for the intentional torts of employees is concerned. Recent common law reforms have not been without controversy and have raised difficult and challenging questions about the appropriate scope of an employer's responsibility. In response to this, Douglas Brodie offers a critique of the employer's common law obligations, both in tort and under the law of contract of employment.
This book critically evaluates the Ruggie Framework and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and investigates the normative foundations as well as the nature, extent and enforcement of corporate obligations for the realisation of human rights.
The calls for an international treaty to elaborate the human rights obligations of transnational corporations and other business enterprises have been rapidly growing, due to the failures of existing regulatory initiatives in holding powerful business actors accountable for human rights abuses. In response, Building a Treaty on Business and Human Rights explores the context and content of such a treaty. Bringing together leading academics from around the world, this book engages with several key areas: the need for the treaty and its scope; the nature and extent of corporate obligations; the role of state obligations; and how to strengthen remedies for victims of human rights violations by business. It also includes draft provisions for a proposed treaty to advance the debate in this contentious area and inform future treaty negotiations. This book will appeal to those interested in the fields of corporate social responsibility and business and human rights.
Modern multinational corporate groups of incredible complexity conducting world enterprises through numerous subsidiaries have rendered traditional corporation law archaic. The traditional concept of each corporation as a separate legal unit clashes with modern economic realities and frustrates effective regulation when applied to affiliated corporations collectively conducting a common enterprise. In response, there is emerging a law of corporate groups directed at the enterprise rather than its corporate components. As national legal systems begin to apply enterprise law to multinationals, including their foreign companies, the resulting extraterritorial application of national law inevitably leads to international controversy. Resolution of the problems presented by conflicting national regulation of multinational enterprises presents a major challenge to international law and foreign relations law, as well as to corporation law. This volume is a comprehensive review and analysis of these major legal developments and their economic and political implications. It concludes with a pathbreaking analysis of the jurisprudential implications of the changing corporate personality in enterprise law focusing on economic organization rather than on the conceptualized legal entity of yesterday.