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Minority Shareholder Rights In Canada And England: 1860-1987, Jeffrey G. Macintosh

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article reviews the changing relationship between majority and minority shareholders over approximately the past century and a quarter. In the last century and the early part of this century, company law in Canada and England was built on a foundation of majoritarianism, which was sometimes applied over-zealously by the courts to the detriment of minority shareholders. This majoritarianism has slowly yielded over time, however, to a greater concern for the position of minority shareholders. It is still not clear if controlling shareholders owe fiduciary duties at common law either to the company or to other shareholders. However, the courts …