Company Law Modernisation and Corporate Governance in the United Kingdom
Some Recent Issues and Debates
Abstract
Many elements of British company law are deeply embedded in 19th century assumptions. Change has come very slowly when efforts have been made to modernise company law in the United Kingdom. The passage of the Companies Act 2006 was a significant advance after a lengthy period of debate and consultation, but the outcome is far from perfect. This legislation has, however, introduced some important new concepts into this body of British law. The Act sought to simplify company law and to start with a small firm focus as these comprise the vast majority of companies. For the first time, the Act also codified the duties of directors and introduced the concept of ‘enlightened shareholder value’, to give greater attention to stakeholders other than shareholders and to encourage companies to adopt more long-term perspectives. This paper explores some of these important changes.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
