Separation and the Function of Corporation Law

16 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2005

See all articles by Ronald J. Gilson

Ronald J. Gilson

Stanford Law School; Columbia Law School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Stanford Law School

Date Written: January 2005

Abstract

This article is part of a symposium in honor of William Klein on the subject of a functional typology of corporation law. Any typology must be animated by an underlying theory whose terms dictate the lines the typology draws. Here the focus is on the level of the theory that might animate the architecture of the grid. In particular, the article addresses the separation theorem, which states the implications of complete capital markets on shareholder preferences concerning corporate investment policy. The proposition is that the presence of markets in the characteristics that determine equity value makes a radical difference in the function played by corporate law, in these circumstances essentially limiting the criteria for good corporate law to a single overriding goal: facilitating the maximization of shareholder wealth. I will illustrate the usefulness of a uni-criterion view of corporate law by briefly taking up two familiar issues that span the corporate law domain: the idea of a stakeholder-oriented board of directors in public corporations and the role of the courts in enforcing the reasonable expectations of private corporation shareholders.

Keywords: Shareholders vs. stakeholders, close corporations

Suggested Citation

Gilson, Ronald J., Separation and the Function of Corporation Law (January 2005). Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 307, Columbia Law and Economics Working Paper No. 277, ECGI - Law Working Paper No. 45/2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=732832 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.732832

Ronald J. Gilson (Contact Author)

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Stanford Law School ( email )

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Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States
650-723-0614 (Phone)
650-725-0253 (Fax)

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