Law Commons^™

Form And Substance Of The Doctrine Of Piercing Of Corporate Veil, Thomas K. Cheng

Thomas K. Cheng

This Article proposes a reformulation of the doctrine of piercing of corporate veil based on the rationale of prevention of shareholder unjust enrichment. Applying the formal and substantive dichotomies propounded in Professor Duncan Kennedy’s seminal article “Form and Substance of Private Law Adjudication,” it examines the formal and substantive relationships of the doctrine and the related rule of limited liability. It affirms that the doctrine is of an altruistic nature, which provides a basis for launching an inquiry into its principal objective. An examination of the effects of corporate veil liability and its interaction with the underlying contractual and tortious …