The Role of the Public Interest in Corporate Law

Abstract:     
This contribution to a proposed Research Handbook on the Economics of Corporate Law (Claire A. Hill and Brett H. McDonnell, eds.) deals with the role of the public interest in corporate law from four perspectives. First, it describes the extremely limited role that the concept of the public interest plays in corporate law doctrine. Second, it reviews the standard account of the manner in which corporate law serves the public interest, and its implications for policy. Third, it describes two different understandings, from the “progressive” branch of corporate law scholarship, of the relationship between the public interest and corporate law. Fourth, it comments on the degree to which these alternative understandings are capable of generating persuasive arguments for corporate law reform.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 25

Keywords: Corporations, Corporate Law, Public Interest, Progressive Corporate Law

Accepted Paper Series