Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Havens For Corporate Lawbreaking, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

Whether corporations are obligated to maximize profits or if they ought to consider societal interests more broadly remains one of the most highly contested debates in corporate law. Yet even the fiercest defenders of the firm’s profit motive concede that the corporation’s profit-seeking function cannot justify breaking the law. As a matter of American corporate law, directors and officers are in breach of their fiduciary duties if they facilitate or engage in profit-maximizing illegal activities. Or so we thought.

This Essay reveals a troubling trend of jurisdictions undercutting the legal compliance obligations of directors and officers. The current legal architecture …

The Brussels Effect And The Extraterritoriality Of Delaware Corporate Law, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores possible shareholder claims in the United States that may arise  if and when member states of the European Union implement the proposed Directive  on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. As a doctrinal matter, legal compliance  obligations for corporations incorporated in Delaware extend beyond the borders of  the United States. Under Delaware law, shareholders can bring viable fiduciary suits  against directors and officers when corporations violate applicable “positive law.”  This jurisprudence, principally aimed at ascertaining whether directors and officers  betrayed shareholders by engaging in or facilitating lawbreaking, is not limited to  complying with American law. As Delaware corporations expand …

Beyond Profit Motives, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

Why do corporations exist? Generations of legal scholars have debated both the origins of business corporations and their purpose.1 Professor Stephen Bainbridge’s new book The Profit Motive: Defending Shareholder Value Maximization is a substantial contribution to this literature and an essential read for anyone who wishes to better understand a controversy that has an immense impact on how movers and shakers of today’s largest corporations make decisions.

Anonymous Companies, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

Hardly a day goes by without hearing about nefarious activities facilitated by anonymous “shell” companies. Often described as menaces to the financial system, the creation of business entities with no real operations in sun-drenched offshore jurisdictions offering “zero percent” tax rates remains in vogue among business titans, pop stars, multimillionaires, and royals. The trending headlines and academic accounts, however, have paid insufficient attention to the legal uses of anonymous companies that are both ubiquitous and almost infinite in their variations.

This Article identifies privacy as a functional feature of modern business entities by documenting the hidden virtues of anonymous companies—business …

Delaware's Global Competitiveness, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

For about a hundred years, Delaware has been the leading jurisdiction for corporate law in the United States. The state, which deliberately embarked on a mission to build a haven for corporate law in the early twentieth century, now supplies corporate charters to over two thirds of Fortune 500 companies and a growing share of closely held companies. But Delaware’s domestic dominance masks the important and yet underexamined issue of whether Delaware maintains its competitive edge globally.

This Article examines Delaware’s global competitiveness, documenting Delaware’s surprising weakness competing in the emerging international market for corporate charters. It does so principally …

Regulating Libra: Will Legal And Regulatory Uncertainty Prevent The Launch Of Facebook’S Cryptocurrency Project?, Amanda Simmons

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Who Owns The Blockchain? How Copyright Law Allows Rights Holders To Control Blockchains, Sebastian Pech

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Delaware's Peril, Marcel Kahan

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Competition For Corporate Headquarters And Corporate Law: An Empirical Anaylsis, Jens Dammann

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating The Cyberpunk Reality: Private Body Modification And The Dangers Of ‘Body Hacking’, Zachary Paul Birnbaum

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

An “Opportunity” To Invest In A “Rat-Infested” City: The Effects Of President Trump’S Economic Development Plan In Baltimore, Michelle L. Sidle

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Cannabis Ip: How Federal Inconsistencies Have Stifled A Budding Industry, Celena Dyal

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Approaching The Tipping Point For "Public-Private Offerings" : The Current Trajectory Of Rule 506(C), Allen C. Page

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Corporate Law: A Broader Account Of Delaware’S Competition, Christopher M. Bruner

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Times They Are A-Changin': When Tech Employees Revolt!, Anat Alon-Beck

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Not Without Consent: Protecting Consent Rights Against Deliberate Breach, Karen A. Chesley

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deciphering Property Insurers’ Indemnification Obligations After Disasters, Pandemics And Business Interruption Losses: An Analysis Of State Supreme Courts And Federal Circuits’ Declaratory Judgments, Willy E. Rice

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Obduskey V. Mccarthey & Holthus Llp: Declining To Distinguish Between Judicial And Non-Judicial Foreclosure In Furtherance Of The Fdcpa’S Mission, Moshe Y. Gugenheim

Proxy

No abstract provided.

Detecting Corporate Environmental Cheating, Seema Kakade, Matt Haber

Faculty Scholarship

As evidenced by the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, corporations cheat on environmental regulations. Such scandals have created a surge in the academic literature in a wide range of areas, including corporate law, administrative law, and deterrence theory. This article furthers that literature by focusing on one particular area of corporate cheating—the ability to learn of the cheating in the first place. Detecting corporate cheating requires significant information about corporate behavior, activity, and output. Indeed, most agencies have broad statutory authority to collect such information from corporations, through targeted records requests, and inspection. However, authority is different from ability. The corporate …

Delaware's New Competition, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

According to the standard account in American corporate law, states compete to supply corporate law to American corporations, with Delaware dominating the market. This “competition” metaphor in turn informs some of the most important policy debates in American corporate law.

This Article complicates the standard account, introducing foreign nations as emerging lawmakers that compete with American states in the increasingly globalized market for corporate law. In recent decades, entrepreneurial foreign nations in offshore islands have used permissive corporate governance rules and specialized business courts to attract publicly traded American corporations. Aided in part by a select group of private sector …

Facial Recognition Technology: Balancing The Benefits And Concerns, Elizabeth Mcclellan

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

De Facto Shareholder Primacy, Jeff Schwartz

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Failure To Capture: Why Business Does Not Control The Rulemaking Process, Gabriel Scheffler

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Efforts To Create An Inclusive Marijuana Industry In The Shadow Of The Unjust War On Drugs, Mathew Swinburne, Kathleen Hoke

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

We Three Kings: Disintermediating Voting At The Index Fund Giants, Caleb N. Griffin

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

House Rules: Why Implementing Express Rules Governing Conflicts Of Law Absent Parties Explicit Choice Will Strengthen International Arbitration Tribunals, Saikrishna Srikanth

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Business Law Bulletin, Spring 2019

Business Law Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Regulating Offshore Finance, William J. Moon

Faculty Scholarship

From the Panama Papers to the Paradise Papers, massive document leaks in recent years have exposed trillions of dollars hidden in small offshore jurisdictions. Attracting foreign capital with low tax rates and environments of secrecy, a growing number of offshore jurisdictions have emerged as major financial havens hosting thousands of hedge funds, trusts, banks, and insurance companies.

While the prevailing account has examined offshore financial havens as “tax havens” that facilitate the evasion or avoidance of domestic tax, this Article uncovers how offshore jurisdictions enable corporations to evade domestic regulatory law. Specifically, recent U.S. Supreme Court cases restricting the geographic …

The Perils Of Philanthrocapitalism, Eric Franklin Amarante

Maryland Law Review

For over a century, philosophers, politicians, and sociologists have bemoaned philanthropy’s inherent antidemocratic, paternalistic, and amateuristic aspects. The antidemocratic nature of philanthropy is self-evident: When a wealthy person determines the best way to address a societal problem without the input of either society at large or the intended beneficiaries of the philanthropy, the result is a deficit of democracy. Philanthropy’s amateurism stems from the illogical belief that wealthy individuals ought to address some of the world’s most complex and intransigent problems simply because they successfully amassed a fortune in the private sector. The paternalism critique focuses on the assumption that …

Shawe V. Elting: The Imperfect Sale Of Transperfect Global, Inc., Sarah M. Samaha

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.