Corporate Governance and the Judges

Abstract

In this article I will first analyse the concept of Corporate Governance and show that it is an increasingly complex amalgam of legal and self regulation. Some reasons for the complexity are that the law has undergone various paradigm shifts over time which have not been adequately noted by commentators and these necessarily impact on the role of the judges. Added to this has been the process of rapid change which has often seemed excessive and even gratuitous. Further, there has been an international movement towards self regulation of this and related areas. Over this now hangs the shadow of recent corporate collapses which casts grave doubts about the ultimate efficacy of self regulation. These developments raise questions about the justiciability of modern corporate governance, whether there are alternatives to conventional adjudication and what the role of the judges should be.