2. Corporate personality and limited liability

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Core ◽  
Corporate Form ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Corporate Personality ◽  
Over Time

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter deals with corporate personality and limited liability, two concepts that form the core of company law. It begins with a short historical background on how the process of corporatisation through charters evolved over time, including the emergence of the use of trust as an instrument to confer many of the privileges of incorporation. It then considers the case Salomon v Salomon & Co (1897) which decided on the legitimacy of small businesses with a corporate form, and offers some other good examples of the consequence of separate personality. The chapter also discusses the rights of members and shareholders with respect to ownership of the corporation, focusing on dispersed shareholdings and close companies.

2. Corporate personality and limited liability

Company Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 14-28
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Core ◽  
Corporate Form ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Corporate Personality ◽  
Over Time

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter deals with corporate personality and limited liability, two concepts that form the core of company law. It begins with a short historical background on how the process of corporatisation through charters evolved over time, including the emergence of the use of trust as an instrument to confer many of the privileges of incorporation. It then considers the case Salomon v Salomon & Co (1897) which decided on the legitimacy of small businesses with a corporate form, and offers some other good examples of the consequence of separate personality. The chapter also discusses the rights of members and shareholders with respect to ownership of the corporation, focusing on dispersed shareholdings and close companies.

2. Corporate personality and limited liability

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Core ◽  
Corporate Form ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Corporate Personality ◽  
Over Time

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter deals with corporate personality and limited liability, two concepts that form the core of company law. It begins with a short historical background on how the process of corporatisation through charters evolved over time, including the emergence of the use of trust as an instrument to confer many of the privileges of incorporation. It then considers the case Salomon v Salomon & Co (1897) which decided on the legitimacy of small businesses with a corporate form, and offers some other good examples of the consequence of separate personality. The chapter also discusses the rights of members and shareholders with respect to ownership of the corporation, focusing on dispersed shareholdings and close companies.

3. Lifting the veil

Company Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 29-50
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Limited Liability ◽  
Recent Case ◽  
Personal Injury ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Group Structures ◽  
Case Development ◽  
Corporate Personality

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter discusses ‘lifting the veil’, a phrase that refers to situations where the judiciary or the legislature have decided that the separation of corporate personality from the members must not be maintained. In this case, the veil of incorporation is said to be lifted. ‘Lifting’ is also known as ‘peeping’, ‘penetrating’, ‘piercing’, or ‘parting’. The chapter presents statutory examples of veil lifting, many of which involve corporate group structures and others involve straightforward shareholder limitation of liability issues. It also considers cases of veil lifting by the courts as well as classical veil lifting during the periods of 1897 to 1966, 1966 to 1989, and 1989 to the present. Three cases are highlighted: Adams v Cape Industries (1990), Chandler v Cape Plc (2012), and Prest v Petrodel Industries Ltd (2013) as well as important recent case development. The chapter also examines claims of tortious liability, the liability of a parent company for personal injury, and commercial tort. Finally, it looks at the costs and benefits of limited liability.

3. Lifting the veil

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Limited Liability ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Personal Injury ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Corporate Group ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Group Structures ◽  
Corporate Personality

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter discusses ‘lifting the veil’, a phrase that refers to situations where the judiciary or the legislature have decided that the separation of corporate personality from the members must not be maintained. In this case, the veil of incorporation is said to be lifted. ‘Lifting’ is also known as ‘peeping’, ‘penetrating’, ‘piercing’, or ‘parting’. The chapter presents statutory examples of veil lifting, many of which involve corporate group structures and others involve straightforward shareholder limitation of liability issues. It also considers cases of veil lifting by the courts as well as classical veil lifting during the periods of 1897 to 1966, 1966 to 1989, and 1989 to the present. Three cases are highlighted: Creasey v Breachwood Motors Ltd (1993), Ord v Belhaven Pubs Ltd (1998), and Trustor AB v Smallbone (No 2) (2001). The chapter also examines claims of tortious liability, the liability of a parent company for personal injury, and commercial tort. Finally, it looks at the costs and benefits of limited liability.

3. Lifting the veil

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Limited Liability ◽  
Parent Company ◽  
Personal Injury ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Corporate Group ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Group Structures ◽  
Corporate Personality

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter discusses ‘lifting the veil’, a phrase that refers to situations where the judiciary or the legislature have decided that the separation of corporate personality from the members must not be maintained. In this case, the veil of incorporation is said to be lifted. ‘Lifting’ is also known as ‘peeping’, ‘penetrating’, ‘piercing’, or ‘parting’. The chapter presents statutory examples of veil lifting, many of which involve corporate group structures and others involve straightforward shareholder limitation of liability issues. It also considers cases of veil lifting by the courts as well as classical veil lifting during the periods of 1897 to 1966, 1966 to 1989, and 1989 to the present. Three cases are highlighted: Adams v Cape Industries (1990), Chandler v Cape Plc (2012), and Prest v Petrodel Industries Ltd (2013). The chapter also examines claims of tortious liability, the liability of a parent company for personal injury, and commercial tort. Finally, it looks at the costs and benefits of limited liability.

Corporate Personality

2021 ◽  
pp. 37-47
Author(s):  
Eva Micheler
Keyword(s):  
Third Parties ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Corporate Form ◽  
Organizational Action ◽  
To Come ◽  
A Company ◽  
Corporate Personality

This chapter discusses how separate legal personality can be explained as a solution developed by company law to address the problem that organizations are social rather than brute facts. For a company to come into existence, certain documents need to be registered. These contain information that facilitates the interaction between the company and third parties. Registration as a company then gives an organization a public legal manifestation. The Companies Act does not limit the corporate form to organizational action. The corporate form can therefore be used for other purposes and organizational boundaries do not align with legal personality. But this does not undermine the observation that company law is designed for the operation of organizations.

1. Introduction to company law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Company Law ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Business Organisation ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Subject ◽  
A Company

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter presents an overview of company law, first by considering the company’s place within the various forms of business organisation. To get some comparative perspective on the relative merits of each type of organisation, three criteria for judging them are discussed: whether the form of business organisation facilitates investment in the business, mitigates or minimises the risk involved in the business venture, and whether it provides a clear organisational structure. Using these criteria, three forms of business organisation are analysed: the sole trader, a partnership, or a registered company. The chapter also explains the importance of the memorandum as part of the company’s constitution, as well as the distinction between private companies and public companies. Finally, it outlines the benefits of forming a company as opposed to the sole trader or a partnership.

7. Share capital

Company Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 115-143
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Company Law ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Share Capital ◽  
The Core ◽  
Public Company ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The Subject ◽  
A Company

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter examines how company law governs maintenance of a company’s share capital, with emphasis on the distinction between private and public companies. It also discusses various ways in which shareholders might legally receive funds (‘distributions’) from the company, including issuance of shares and payment of shares in kind (that is, goods, property, or services rather than in cash). The relevance of the nominal value of shares issued to shareholders, the issue of paying dividends to shareholders, and disguised return of capital to shareholders are considered as well. The chapter also examines two other means of returning funds to shareholders, reduction of share capital and redemption or purchase by a company of its own shares, before concluding with an assessment of the prohibition and the exceptions concerning the issue of financial assistance for the acquisition of shares in a public company.

1. Introduction to company law

Company Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Company Law ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Business Organisation ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Subject ◽  
A Company

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter presents an overview of company law, first by considering the company’s place within the various forms of business organisation. To get some comparative perspective on the relative merits of each type of organisation, three criteria for judging them are discussed: whether the form of business organisation facilitates investment in the business, mitigates or minimises the risk involved in the business venture, and whether it provides a clear organisational structure. Using these criteria, three forms of business organisation are analysed: the sole trader, a partnership, or a registered company. The chapter also explains the importance of the memorandum as part of the company’s constitution, as well as the distinction between private companies and public companies. Finally, it outlines the benefits of forming a company as opposed to the sole trader or a partnership.

Research of Legislation and Practice for Piercing the Corporate Veil under New Companies Act in China

2012 ◽  
Vol 488-489 ◽  
pp. 1243-1247
Author(s):  
Guang Shu Gu
Keyword(s):  
Burden Of Proof ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Judicial Interpretation ◽  
Judicial Practice ◽  
Corporate System ◽  
Legitimate Interests ◽  
Piercing The Corporate Veil ◽  
Corporate Personality

Pierce the corporate veil rules together with the company's independent personality constitutes a complete, rigorous corporate system. Pierce the corporate veil rules as part of a corporate system, and improve its position in the supplement, which is the balance between corporate interests of shareholders and creditors of the company's results. Pierce the corporate veil rules apply to particular legal relationship, it is by denying the company's independent personality behind the company investigated for abuse of corporate personality and limited liability of shareholders independent of the liability of shareholders. Make up the deficiencies inherent in the corporate system to protect the legitimate interests of creditors of the company. Pierce the corporate veil in order to achieve the value of the rules of fairness and justice, our country should be based on the theory from abroad. With China's judicial practice, judicial interpretation and give full play to the role of a typical case, a reasonable allocation of the burden of proof. Prudential rules applicable to pierce the corporate veil and do advance prevention. Try to avoid piercing the corporate veil applies the rules to further improve the new company law in China under the rule of piercing the corporate veil.

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