The Rising Tension between Shareholder and Director Power in the Common Law World

60 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2010 Last revised: 3 Jun 2020

See all articles by Jennifer G. Hill

Jennifer G. Hill

Monash University - Faculty of Law; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: March 30, 2010

Abstract

This article explores the rising tension between shareholder and director power in the common law world. First the article analyzes key arguments in the shareholder empowerment debate, and current US reform proposals to grant shareholders stronger rights, from a comparative corporate law perspective, examining how traditional US legal rules diverge from other common law jurisdictions. Secondly, the article discusses power shifts in the opposite direction – namely toward the board – in some parts of the common law world.

The article shows that US shareholders have traditionally had unusually restricted rights compared to their counterparts in common law jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom and Australia. It challenges a number of arguments supporting the traditional US approach, by showing that the arguments are often US-specific, and are less persuasive from a comparative corporate governance perspective. The article also identifies an important tension between legal rules designed to enhance shareholder power, and commercial practices designed to subvert it. It shows how strategic commercial responses to regulation can affect the operation of legal rules. The existence of commercial pushback of this kind suggests that, even if US shareholder powers are significantly strengthened, that will by no means be the end of the story.

Keywords: corporate governance, comparative corporate governance, “law matters” hypothesis, shareholders, shareholder empowerment, institutional investors, directors, corporate charter amendment, appointment of directors, removal of directors, corporate prenuptial agreements, entrenchment mechanisms

JEL Classification: D70, G30, G32, G34, G38, K22, K33, K40, K42, M14

Suggested Citation

Hill, Jennifer G., The Rising Tension between Shareholder and Director Power in the Common Law World (March 30, 2010). Corporate Governance: An International Review, Vol. 18, pp. 344-359, 2010, Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 10/34, Vanderbilt Law and Economics Research Paper No. 10-11, ECGI - Law Working Paper No. 152/2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1582258

Jennifer G. Hill (Contact Author)

Monash University - Faculty of Law ( email )

Wellington Road
Clayton, Victoria 3800
Australia

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,445
Abstract Views
7,368
Rank
24,546
PlumX Metrics