Corporate Law

This text argues that the rules and practices of corporate law mimic contractual provisions that parties involved in corporate enterprise would reach if they always bargained at zero cost and flawlessly enforced their agreements. It states that corporate l

Understanding Corporate Law is designed to assist students by offering a clear and comprehensive treatment of key concepts in corporate law. It is a popular study guide for students and has been used by professors to supplement their casebook or as recommended reading. Significant business, economic, and policy issues are highlighted in connection with a thorough analysis of the important cases and statutory provisions used in the study of corporations. It includes the major theoretical approaches used in current corporate law literature.In each chapter, the authors identify important policies and discuss the relationship of the law as it has developed to those policies. Statutory issues are covered under both the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware and the Revised Model Business Corporation Act. The Third Edition of Understanding Corporate Law discusses developing case law since the Second Edition including the Delaware courts' use of good faith in fiduciary duty cases. The book also reflects the corporate governance issues raised by the corporate scandals and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. A section of Chapter 5 deals generally with that Act, but its impact is also covered in relevant sections throughout the book. This Understanding treatise is designed to be used in conjunction with all of the major corporate law casebooks.

Dozens of judicial opinions have held that shareholders own corporations, that directors are agents of shareholders, and even that directors are trustees of shareholders’ property. Yet, until now, it has never been proven. These doctrines rest on unsubstantiated assumptions. In this book the author performs a rigorous, systematic analysis of common law, contract law, property law, agency law, partnership law, trust law, and corporate statutory law using judicial rulings that prove shareholders do not own corporations, that there is no separation of ownership and control, directors are not agents of shareholders, and shareholders are not investors in corporations. Furthermore, the author proves the theory of the firm, which is founded on the separation of ownership and control and directors as agents of shareholders, promotes an agenda that wilfully ignores fundamental property law and agency law. However, since shareholders do not own the corporation, and directors are not agents of shareholders, the theory of the firm collapses. The book corrects decades of confusion and misguided research in corporate law and the economic theory of the firm and will allow readers to understand how property law, agency law, and economics contradict each other when applied to corporate law. It will appeal to researchers and upper-level and graduate students in economics, finance, accounting, law, and sociology, as well as attorneys and accountants.

How is it that corporations are able to behave irresponsibly, criminally, and undemocratically? "Wealth by Stealth" is a scathing introduction to the operations of the modern corporation, written by a corporate lawyer. Many writers point to the growth of undemocratic corporate power. Glasbeek takes these observations further and outlines clearly how corporations become so powerful. He also shows how they are able to act without regard to the behaviour and laws governing citizens and other groups. Glasbeek is known by generations of students for his brilliant, funny lectures at Osgoode Hall Law School. With "Wealth by Stealth" his informative critique of corporate behaviour becomes available and accessible to all. How is it "The corporation makes them do it"?

Understanding the corporation means understanding its legal framework, but until recently the origins and evolution of corporate law have received relatively little attention. The topical chapters featured in this Research Handbook, contributed by leading scholars from around the world, examine the historical development of corporation and business organization law in the Americas, Europe, and Asia from the ancient world to modern times, providing an invaluable resource for both further historical research and scholars seeking the origins of present-day issues.