Peoples Department Stores V. Wise and the 'Best Interests of the Corporation'

Abstract

This comment is concerned with understanding and evaluating the Supreme Court of Canada's rejection of shareholder primacy in Peoples Department Stores v. Wise. In particular, the author evaluates the reasons given by the court for its choice, and articulates and analyzes the competing normative arguments, some of which appear to have been overlooked or inadequately dealt with by the court. Despite being sympathetic to the court's rejection of shareholder primacy, the author argues that the court's justification of its decision does not do justice to the issue.