Salomon vs Salomon

Chapter 1 of Landmark Cases in Company Law by V. Barnes and S. Wheeler (eds), Hart Publishing, Forthcoming

Faculty of Laws University College London Law Research Paper No. 19/2023

19 Pages Posted: 13 Oct 2023

See all articles by Marc T. Moore

Marc T. Moore

University College London - Faculty of Laws

Date Written: October 12, 2023

Abstract

Salomon v Salomon is widely regarded as the most significant case in English and wider Commonwealth company law history. It is typically the subject of introductory company law lectures and textbook chapters throughout much of the common law world, and no proper account of the history of the business corporation is complete without it. Accordingly, few would disagree that Salomon is a landmark – if not the landmark – case in English company law. At the same time, though, Salomon is also one of the most misunderstood cases in English legal history, and even today I suspect that many students and even teachers of company law continue to labour under certain misapprehensions about the case. In this seminar, I will argue that, far from being a so-called “landmark” company law case, Salomon is a case that should never really have come to court in the first place, or at least that should never have had to proceed beyond the initial trial court stage. As such, the principal significance of Salomon’s case resides not on a doctrinal but rather on a factual level, in enabling the authoritative reputational redemption of the Jewish defendant Aron Salomon and his family in the face of a barrage of hostile, unfair and manifestly false imputations as to their perceived conduct, motives and character traits.

Keywords: company law, corporate personality, legal history, anti-semitism, United Kingdom

JEL Classification: K10, K20, K22, N60, N63, N80, N83, N90, N93, Z10, Z12, Z13

Suggested Citation

Moore, Marc T., Salomon vs Salomon (October 12, 2023). Chapter 1 of Landmark Cases in Company Law by V. Barnes and S. Wheeler (eds), Hart Publishing, Forthcoming , Faculty of Laws University College London Law Research Paper No. 19/2023, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4600517 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4600517

Marc T. Moore (Contact Author)

University College London - Faculty of Laws ( email )

Bentham House
4-8 Endsleigh Gardens
London, WC1E OEG
United Kingdom

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