The Company in the 21st Century: Piercing the veil: reconceptualising the company under law

Abstract

The corporations law describes the legal identity of a company as being a ”separate” entity, or having a separate personality from its owners or managers. Piercing the veil of a corporation occurs when a court disregards this distinction to hold people to account. The paper reviews the historical development of the legal form of companies, three theories which assist in understanding the role of companies in society, and how and why piercing of the veil has developed. The author argues that contemporary law lacks an adequate definition of a company and the doctrine of piercing is becoming increasingly irrelevant. In this context he proposes a new definition of a company appropriate for today’s society.