The central objective of this interdisciplinary thesis is to articulate a theoretical, doctrinal and
political justification for the reintroduction of corporate charter revocation as a remedy to
enhance the accountability of corporations in modern society. Corporations were originally
conceived of as public institutions granted charters to carry out specific activities in the
interests of society. Where a corporation acted outside of its charter, the corporation's
charter could be revoked. Over the past 150 years, corporate lawyers have silently amended
corporate laws to provide corporations with rights, powers and privileges that exceed those of
individuals. Internal institutional regulation through corporate charters has been replaced by
external oversight through administrative regulatory mechanisms. Where incorporation was
once considered a privilege, today it is a right. Despite these developments, this thesis
argues that theory and doctrine still support the paramountcy of the public over the private,
and the legal remedies of corporate charter revocation.
The thesis contains six chapters including introduction and conclusion. Chapter one
introduces the legal principle of corporate charter revocation and demonstrates why such a
remedy is necessary in the context of modern corporate law. Chapter two considers the four
accepted theories of the corporate structure and asserts that a revised "neo-concessionist"
approach continues to inform our understanding of the corporation/state relationship.
Chapter three reinforces this theoretical analysis through an historical and doctrinal account
of the prerogative remedies of scire facias and quo warranto and the development of
statutory charter revocation provisions. Chapter four focuses on the place of the state,
specifically the Attorney General, in initiating revocation proceedings and some of the
political barriers to reinstating the remedy. Through the exploration of these barriers and
consideration of several recent American case studies, an effort is made to develop a strategy
for the successful implementation of corporate charter revocation. The paper concludes with
some thoughts about various outstanding barriers to the successful utilization of the remedy,
the nature and application of corporate charter revocation generally, and calls for a
continuation of a broader debate about the place of the corporation in modern society. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/10514 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Yaron, Gil |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 8713673 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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