eprintid: 37717
rev_number: 9
userid: 5043
dir: disk0/00/03/77/17
datestamp: 2019-10-21 12:56:02
lastmod: 2021-01-04 20:49:03
status_changed: 2019-10-21 12:56:02
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
eprint_status: archive
creators_name: Oh, Peter B.
creators_name: Dignam, Alan J.
creators_email: poh@pitt.edu
creators_email: a.dignam@qmul.ac.uk
creators_id: poh
title: Disregarding the Salomon Principle: An Empirical Analysis, 1855-2014
ispublished: pub
divisions: sch_law_law_facultypub
divisions: sch_law_law
full_text_status: public
keywords: company law, corporate law, courts, empirical legal studies, veil piercing, veil lifting
abstract: For over a century UK courts have struggled to negotiate a coherent approach to the circumstances in which the Salomon principle – that a corporation is a separate entity – will be disregarded. Empirical analysis can facilitate our understanding of this mercurial area of the law. Examining UK cases from 1885 to 2014, we created a final dataset of 213 cases coded for 15 different categories. Key findings confirm historical patterns of uncertainty and a low but overall fluctuating disregard rate, declining recently. Criminal/fraud/deception claims link strongly to disregard outcomes. Private law rates are low but tort claims have a higher disregard rate than contract. Individual shareholders are more susceptible to disregard than corporate shareholders. The English Court of Appeal plays a key role in successful disregard claims particularly in tort. In general, while disregard rates were very context specific, concerns about the diminished sanctity of the Salomon principle may be overblown.
date: 2019
date_type: published
publication: Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
volume: 39
number: 1
publisher: Oxford University Press
pagerange: 16-49
refereed: TRUE
issn: 0143-6503
related_url_url: http://ssrn.com/abstract=3347410
related_url_desc: SSRN
centers: cen_other_bioethicshealthlaw
id_number: 10.1093/ojls/gqy027
article_type: researcharticle
citation:   Oh, Peter B. and Dignam, Alan J.  (2019) Disregarding the Salomon Principle: An Empirical Analysis, 1855-2014.  Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 39 (1).  pp. 16-49.  ISSN 0143-6503     
document_url: http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/37717/1/39%20Oxford%20J.%20Legal%20Stud.%2016%20%282019%29.pdf