Law Commons^™

Judicial Activism In Transnational Business And Human Rights Litigation, Hassan M. Ahmad

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This article explores a more expansive adjudicative role for domestic judiciaries in the U.S., U.K., and Canada in private law disputes that concern personal and environmental harm by multinational corporations that operate in the Global South. This expansive role may confront—although not necessarily upend—existing understandings around the separation of powers in common law jurisdictions. I canvass existing literature on judicial activism. Then, I detail legality gaps in the selected common law home states, which can be broken down into four categories: i) failed legislation; ii) deficient legislation; iii) judicial restraint; and iv) judicial deference.

I suggest three ways to actualize …

Pluralism And Convergence: Judicial Standardization In Canadian Corporate Law, Camden Hutchison

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This article uses statistical analysis of judicial decisions to address whether (and to what extent) the common law of corporations varies among the provinces. The primary findings are: (1) as measured by the number of case citations, provincial courts of appeal favour precedent from their home provinces; (2) the Supreme Court of Canada exerts a powerful standardizing influence across the provinces; and (3) on balance (and despite the “home province” bias of provincial courts of appeal), Canadian corporate law is largely homogeneous, with little variation among provincial jurisdictions. This article concludes that—for a variety of reasons—it is unlikely that any …

Pension Fiduciaries And Climate Change: A Canadian Perspective, Maziar Peihani

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Climate change has emerged as a major issue of financial risk for Canadian pension funds when determining where to place investments. The author argues that while such pension funds recognize climate change as an issue that holds the potential for significant financial risk, the funds’ current approach to climate-related risks faces critical limitations. The author identifies the current practices of the five largest pension funds in Canada when faced with climate-related financial risks, then discusses the key shortcomings in current practices among the pension funds in three main areas.
First, the author examines organizational governance, which seeks to understand investment …

Income Taxation Of Small Business: Toward Simplicity, Neutrality And Coherence, David G. Duff

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Among the many contributions that Judith Freedman has made to tax law and policy in the United Kingdom and around the world, one of the most sustained and significant involves the regulation and taxation of small business. This article reviews Professor Freedman’s contributions to tax law and policy regarding small business, and evaluates Canadian experience with the taxation of private companies and their shareholders in light of Professor Freedman’s work. Part II summarizes Professor Freedman’s main conclusions regarding the taxation of small business, addressing both the taxation of similar economic activities conducted through different legal forms and the rationale and …

Transnational Business Governance Interactions, Regulatory Quality And Marginalized Actors: An Introduction, Stepan Wood, Errol Meidinger, Burkard Eberlein, Rebecca Schmidt, Kenneth W. Abbott

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In what circumstances can transnational business governance interactions (TBGIs)—the myriad overlaps, intersections, conflicts, collisions and synergies amongst the actors and institutions involved in transnational regulation of business activity—be harnessed to enhance the quality of transnational regulation and advance the interests of marginalized actors? This chapter introduces the concept of transnational business governance interactions (TBGIs), summarizes the TBGI analytical framework and defines regulatory quality and marginalized actors. It proposes to investigate the relationship between TBGIs, regulatory quality and marginalized actors at three levels: regulatory capacities, outputs and outcomes. The chapter presents the plan of the book and summarizes the key messages …

Harnessing Tbgis For Regulatory Quality And Marginalized Actors, Stepan Wood, Errol Meidinger, Burkard Eberlein, Rebecca Schmidt, Kenneth W. Abbott

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The chapters of this book paint a mixed and not particularly optimistic picture of the prospects for harnessing transnational business governance interactions (TBGIs)—the myriad overlaps, intersections, conflicts, collisions and synergies amongst the actors and institutions involved in transnational regulation of business activity—to improve the quality of transnational regulation and advance marginalized interests. This chapter synthesizes key findings about the impact of TBGIs of regulatory quality and marginalized actors, explores the implications of these findings for identifying and shaping TBGIs that foster regulatory quality or advance marginalized interests, and presents concluding reflections on lessons learned and future research directions.

Say On Purpose: Lessons From Chinese Corporate Charters, Li-Wen Lin

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No abstract provided.

Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility? Legislative Innovation And Judicial Application In China, Li-Wen Lin

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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often understood as voluntary corporate behavior beyond legal compliance. The recent emergence of CSR legislation is challenging this typical understanding. A number of countries including China, Indonesia and India have expressly stated in corporate law that companies shall undertake CSR. The CSR law is controversial. Critics of CSR see the law as an unwise effort to challenge profit maximization as the only social responsibility of the corporation. Even CSR advocates welcome the CSR law with great caution. Given the vague statutory language of CSR, the practical application of the law places high demands on the …

Time To Act: Response To Questions Posed By The Expert Panel On Sustainable Finance On Fiduciary Obligation And Effective Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, Janis P. Sarra, Cynthia Williams

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While there are numerous strategies to be deployed to move Canada to a financially sustainable future, this study addresses two critically important issues: fiduciary obligation of corporate- and pension-fiduciaries, and national action on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) financial disclosure, including climate-related financial risk disclosure. The Canadian economy is facing significant challenges and disruptions in the transition to a lower carbon world. Absent clear and innovative steps to ensure our corporations and financial institutions act to address carbon emissions and other environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities, we will be seriously prejudiced in a world that is rapidly moving …

Interactions, Iteration And Early Institutionalization: Competing Lessons Of Globalgap’S Legitimation, Donal Casey

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Since its inception, GLOBALGAP has transformed from an informal grouping of retailers into a highly elaborate regulatory organisation. This chapter critically examines GLOBALGAP’s development. I argue that, through an iterative process of legitimation, actual and anticipated interactions with state, market and civil society actors led GLOBALGAP to develop structures, practices and processes that sought to enhance representation and participation of structurally weaker parties such as smallholders, whilst also addressing concerns relating to the exclusionary effect of its standards. I tease out how, as non-state regulatory organisations emerge and develop, they respond to actual and anticipated governance interactions in order to …

Can Non-State Regulatory Authority Improve Domestic Forest Sustainability? Assessing Interactive Pathways Of Influence In Cameroon, Sophia Carodenuto, Benjamin Cashore

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Transnational business governance can involve the use of non-state mechanisms to target the behavior of firms within domestic settings. Drawing on the implementation pillar of the TGBI framework, this chapter focuses attention on the interaction between state and non-state regulatory authority from two leading cases of TBG in tropical forest management: climate mitigation through avoided deforestation (REDD+) and timber legality verification through international trade agreements (FLEGT/VPA). A dominant justification among global elites for both interventions is that empowering marginalized domestic groups through technology transfer and capacity building will lead to more durable policy solutions on the ground. Drawing on empirical …

Transnational Business Governance Interactions And Financial Regulation Change: A Case Of Asian Financial Markets, Simin Gao, Christopher Chen

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This chapter examines the interactions of transnational business governance schemes regulating the global derivatives markets with multiple levels of interactions. The chapter describes the process of interactions via the theory of isomorphism. First, after examining the interactions of futures exchanges, we identify that governance techniques among futures exchanges are rather similar, illustrating the forces of mimetic and normative isomorphism. Second, the monopoly of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) scheme in the over-the-counter (OTC) market provides signs of mimetic isomorphism. Third, through imparity of market power and major market dealers, the ISDA scheme became the only governance scheme for …

Micro-Level Interactions In The Compliance Processes Of Transnational Private Governance, Graeme Auld, Stefan Renckens

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Transnational private governance has emerged in multiple issue areas to promote responsible business practices. While most studies assess its rule-setting function, much less research has been done on the compliance-assessment function. This chapter examines the various actors that are involved in this process—auditors, individual assessors and, to a lesser extent, accreditors—and their respective interactions. Using the Marine Stewardship Council as an empirical case, the chapter examines the level of competition among accredited auditors and assessors, and the degree of organizational interdependence. It argues that while the number of accredited auditors has increased over time, the degree of competition is rather …

Transnational Delegation, Accountability And The Administrative Governance Of Biofuel Standards, Phillip Paiement

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

The European Union’s 2009 Renewable Energy Directive delegated to privately run ‘voluntary schemes’ the task of monitoring biomass production sites and ensuring their compliance with the Directive’s sustainability requirements. This chapter assesses the consequences of the Commission’s delegation for the administrative governance architectures of non-state sustainable biofuel standards operating outside the EU, focusing in particular on the effects this governance interaction has on the involvement of vulnerable stakeholders in the governance of sustainable biofuels. Utilizing the Transnational Business Governance Interactions framework complemented by the theory of governance assemblages, this research provides a meso-level analysis of the character and effects of …

Corporate Law Federalism In Historical Context: Comparing Canada And The United States, Camden Hutchison

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Although American and Canadian corporate law share many similarities, they are also marked by important institutional differences. Among the most notable are the differing roles of federal versus state/provincial policymaking in the two countries: While American corporate law has been deeply influenced by jurisdictional competition among the states, Canadian law has instead been shaped by federal legislative activity, as seen today in the standardizing influence of the Canada Business Corporations Act. These different institutional histories have led to distinct evolutionary paths, with important substantive consequences for contemporary corporate law. Despite considerable academic attention to the subject of corporate law federalism, …

Fiduciary Obligations In Business And Investment: Implications Of Climate Change, Janis P. Sarra

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Fiduciary obligation, under both corporate law and the common law, requires directors and officers to identify and address climate-related financial and other risks. In fulfilling their obligations to act in the best interests of the company, directors and officers must directly engage with developments in knowledge regarding physical and transition risks related to climate change and how these risks may impact their corporation. Depending on the firm’s economic activities, the risk may be minor or highly significant, but directors and officers have an obligation to make the inquiries, to devise strategies to address risks, and to have an ongoing monitoring …

Governance Interactions In Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Errol Meidinger

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

“Supply chains” are a major site of transnational business governance, and yet their dynamics and effectiveness are usually more assumed than interrogated in regulatory governance discourse. The very term “chain” implies a more determinist and simplistic understanding of supply relationships than is empirically supportable. Supply chains in practice are complex, dynamic, and highly variable networks. Based on peer-group presentations by over 60 supply chain professionals, this paper analyzes sustainable supply chain management practices in terms of the interactions conceptions of the Transnational Business Governance Interactions framework. It discusses possible refinements of the framework and suggests that sustainable supply chain management …

A Critical Canadian Perspective On The Benefit Corporation, Carol Liao

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There has been much fanfare surrounding the possible implementation of a legal model of social enterprise similar to the American benefit corporation in Canada. This article points out that some of the fundamental legal characteristics of the benefit corporation are already reflected in existing Canadian corporate laws, and in some instances Canadian laws are comparatively more progressive. Directors owe fiduciary duties to the best interests of the corporation, and minority protections such as the oppression remedy oblige directors to consider non-shareholder stakeholders. Landmark judgments from Canada’s highest court have affirmed the board requirement to consider stakeholder interests, and that directors …

Behind The Numbers: State Capitalism And Executive Compensation In China, Li-Wen Lin

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The rapid rise of Chinese companies in the global economy has attracted great scholarly attention to Chinese corporate governance. Among the various areas of Chinese corporate governance, executive compensation is an important yet difficult part to research. The common research method of Chinese executive pay literature relies on pay figures disclosed in listed companies’ annual reports and tends to take the disclosed numbers at face value. This Article discusses three informal pay practices that constrain the usefulness and reliability of executive pay data formally disclosed in annual reports of Chinese listed companies, especially those owned by the state. A valid …

The Limitations Of Supply Chain Disclosure Regimes, Adam S. Chilton, Galit A. Sarfaty

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Although the past few decades have seen numerous cases of human rights violations within corporate supply chains, companies are frequently not held accountable for the abuses because there is a significant governance gap in the regulation of corporate activity abroad. In response, governments have begun to pass mandatory disclosure laws that require companies to release detailed information on their supply chains in the hopes that these laws will create pressure that will improve corporate accountability. In this paper, we argue that supply chain disclosure regimes are unlikely to have a large effect on consumer behavior, and as a result, their …

Progressive Era Conceptions Of The Corporation And The Failure Of The Federal Chartering Movement, Camden Hutchison

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Despite the economic integration of the several states and the broad regulatory authority of the federal government, the internal affairs of business corporations remain primarily governed by state law. The origins of this system are closely tied to the decentralized history of the United States, but the reasons for its continued persistence—in the face of significant federalization pressures—are not obvious. Indeed, federalization of corporate law was a major political goal during the Progressive Era, a period which witnessed significant expansion of federal involvement in the national economy. By examining the historical record of Progressive Era policy debates, this Article bridges …

Micro, Small And Medium Enterprise (Msme) Insolvency In Canada, Janis P. Sarra

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Insolvency law is broadly recognized as an essential tool in well-functioning economies. A balance of mechanisms that allow for timely and effective liquidation, but also for a “fresh start” for individual entrepreneurs and the rehabilitation of viable businesses, tends to enhance creditor recoveries and lender confidence. This study examines the treatment of micro, small and medium enterprises (“MSME”) under the Canada Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. It undertakes a qualitative examination of 200 business insolvencies in 2015, in order to try to understand the reasons for insolvency, types of debt, and outcomes of proceedings. The study reports on the results of …

The Modern Corporation Statement On Company Law: Summary: Fundamental Rules Of Corporate Law, Lynn Stout Et Al., Carol Liao

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Corporations play a central role in modern economies. Certain beliefs about corporations and corporate law are widely held and relied upon by business experts, the financial press, and economists who study the firm. Unfortunately, some of these widely-held beliefs are mistaken. This has led to numerous common errors in the way corporate law concepts are understood and applied. The authors of this Summary are experts versed in a variety of national legal systems, including those of the U.S. and U.K. as well as the E.U. We provide this simple Summary of certain fundamentals of corporate law, applicable in almost all …

Bonded To The State: A Network Perspective On China's Corporate Debt Market, Li-Wen Lin, Curtis J. Milhaupt

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A corporate bond market is thought to play an important role as a supplement to bank-oriented financial systems in emerging markets – functioning in effect as a “spare tire.” Yet bond markets typically rely upon a formal institutional foundation that is often lacking in developing economies. China’s corporate bond market is huge, yet scholarly analysis of it is relatively scarce and some of its elements remain poorly understood. In this paper, we use a network perspective to explore the formation, operation and function of the Chinese corporate bond market. Our effort begins by unpacking the complexities of the market’s structure …

Is There Anybody Out There? Analyzing The Regulation Of Children’S Privacy Online In The United States Of America And The European Union According To The Tbgi Analytical Framework By Eberlein Et Al, Nachshon Goltz

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This article analyzes the regulation of children’s privacy online, especially in the context of personal information collection as a commodity, in the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) according to the Transnational Business Governance Interactions analytical framework proposed by Eberlein et al. This article reviews the regulatory structure of the field in these two jurisdictions, including global organizations, according to Elberlein et al components and questions. In the analysis, a map of the regulatory interactions within this global realm will be presented and discussed. Analysis of the influence of each interacting party and the degree of …

Transnational Governance Interactions: A Critical Review Of The Legal Literature, Stepan Wood

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Overlaps and interactions among diverse legal rules, actors and orders have long preoccupied legal scholars. This preoccupation has intensified in recent years as transnational efforts to regulate business have proliferated. This proliferation has led to increasingly frequent and intense interactions among transnational regulatory actors and programs. These transnational business governance interactions (TBGI) are the subject of an emerging interdisciplinary research agenda. This paper situates the TBGI research agenda in the broader field of transnational legal theory by presenting a critical review of the ways in which legal scholars have addressed the phenomenon of governance interactions. Legal scholars frequently recognize the …

Transnational Governance Interactions: A Critical Review Of The Legal Literature, Stepan Wood

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Overlaps and interactions among diverse legal rules, actors and orders have long preoccupied legal scholars. This preoccupation has intensified in recent years as transnational efforts to regulate business have proliferated. This proliferation has led to increasingly frequent and intense interactions among transnational regulatory actors and programs. These transnational business governance interactions (TBGI) are the subject of an emerging interdisciplinary research agenda. This paper situates the TBGI research agenda in the broader field of transnational legal theory by presenting a critical review of the ways in which legal scholars have addressed the phenomenon of governance interactions. Legal scholars frequently recognize the …

China's National Champions: Governance Change Through Globalization?, Li-Wen Lin

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China is regarded as the world’s leading practitioner of state capitalism in which important capitalist enterprises have a close relationship with the state. One prominent feature of China’s state capitalism is the fundamental role of about 100 large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) controlled by organs of the central government in critical industries such as oil, telecom, and transportation. These SOEs are often dubbed “China’s national champions.” They are not only important players in China’s domestic economy but also major contributors to China’s fast growing global investment. Their global expansion however often encounters political and regulatory challenges abroad, partly because their corporate …

Taxation Of State Owned Enterprises: A Review Of Empirical Evidence From China, Wei Cui

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This chapter reviews empirical evidence from China that bears on the general theory of the income taxation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Prior theoretical literature has offered three conflicting views of SOE taxation. The first is that SOE taxation is superfluous, because the government shareholder can simply demand profit distributions. The second is that SOE taxation is necessary to put state-owned and private firms on an equal competitive footing. The third view holds that the significance of SOE taxation lies in the fact that SOE managers, like managers of private firms, may be dividend averse; in the absence of other effective …

Complicity In Business And Human Rights, James G. Stewart

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These remarks, delivered on April 9, 2015 at the American Society of International Law’s Annual Conference, address the context of complicity discussions in public international law generally then their significance and scope in Business and Human Rights in particular. The Panel on which I delivered this talk was one of the first to discuss the topic of complicity across different fields, including International Criminal Law, the Alien Tort Statute, Business and Human Rights and the Public International Law of State Responsibility. In my comments, I offer five initial points contextualizing these discussions for the field of public international law writ …