Shareholder Protection in Australia: Institutional Configurations and Regulatory Evolution

Abstract

Various explanations have been advanced for why shareholder protection looks the way that it does. These explanations include varieties of capitalism, legal origins and various configurations of social interests. When compared with the United States and the United Kingdom, Australian corporate law appears on its face to be strongly protective of shareholders. However, when trying to explain the relative strength of Australian corporate law, we find that none of the theories advanced appear to be satisfactory. Our analysis of the development of shareholder protection laws in Australia indicates that the Australian experience is not easily located within the broad theories that seek to classify countries according to matters such as types of capitalism, legal origins or political orientation.