Topic: Are the judges trying to squeeze justice out a stone by “lifting the corporate veil “ in cases that involve death instead of holding corporations more responsible.
Order Description
Purpose of the paper
The purpose of this paper would be to examine a number of representative cases, and thereby criticise the boundary conditions for lifting the Corporate veil i.e. the the arguments that have been appled for the transition between Corporate and Individual (Directors / Staff) responsibilities. In recent cases of Corporate manslaughter, the courts have shown more likelihood to lift the veil and prosecute the Directors for gross negligent manslaughter rather than the Corporation as a whole. Given that the Directors tend to have more limited means than the Corporation, the judgments suggest that the courts, in these circumstances, are trying to ‘squeeze justice out of stone’, and thereby limit the entitlement of defendants. A further example is the recently decided case of Prest v Petrodel, a divorce case. These cases can be said to undermine the principle of Corporate personality and limited liability, in a way that does not always favour defendants.
