TY - JOUR
T1 - The mythology of Salomon's case and the law dealing with the tort liabilities of corporate groups: An historical perspective
AU - Lipton, Phillip
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Salomon s Case has for a long time been widely seen as a landmark case that is the keystone of modern company law. A mythology has developed around the case that has resulted in the Salomon principle exercising an iron grip on company law. The rigid application of the principle in Salomon s Case to corporate groups has enabled corporate groups to structure themselves in ways that limit the tort liabilities of the group as a whole and so raises important social, economic and ethical questions regarding the allocation of risk that are not addressed by the application of the Salomon principle. This article suggests that given the importance of the social, economic and ethical issues raised in cases of mass torts that invariably involve corporate groups, it is preferable that these issues are resolved by tort law, which is concerned with the allocation of risk, thereby circumventing the dead hand of Salomon.
AB - Salomon s Case has for a long time been widely seen as a landmark case that is the keystone of modern company law. A mythology has developed around the case that has resulted in the Salomon principle exercising an iron grip on company law. The rigid application of the principle in Salomon s Case to corporate groups has enabled corporate groups to structure themselves in ways that limit the tort liabilities of the group as a whole and so raises important social, economic and ethical questions regarding the allocation of risk that are not addressed by the application of the Salomon principle. This article suggests that given the importance of the social, economic and ethical issues raised in cases of mass torts that invariably involve corporate groups, it is preferable that these issues are resolved by tort law, which is concerned with the allocation of risk, thereby circumventing the dead hand of Salomon.
UR - http://www.law.monash.edu.au/about-us/publications/monlr/issues/past/40-2/lipton.pdf
M3 - Article
SN - 0311-3140
VL - 40
SP - 452
EP - 487
JO - Monash University Law Review
JF - Monash University Law Review
IS - 2
ER -