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The Trajectory of (Corporate Law) Scholarship
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2004
Abstract
While considerable attention is devoted to legal scholarship, little has been written on the process by which academic writing on law evolves. This paper departs from the existing pattern and examines five potential trajectories for legal scholarship. One is based on the idea that knowledge “accumulates” as part of “progress” towards a better understanding of the matters under study. The second is the concept of the “paradigm”, derived from work done on the history and sociology of science. The third focuses on the idea that academic endeavour concerning law yields useful ideas since market forces are at work. The fourth is a “cyclical” thesis, based on the assumption that themes legal scholars write about arise on a reoccurring basis. Finally, legal scholarship can potentially be characterised in terms of fads and fashions. It appears that scholarly trends in law develop in a manner that is at least partially consistent with each of the five potential trajectories identified. At the same time, none captures fully the dynamics at work and indeed there is some conflict between the various paths available. The paper tests these conjectures by focusing on a particular topic, namely corporate law. The survey offered does not identify one of the five potential trajectories as being dominant. Still, each does help to explain how corporate law scholarship has developed. Correspondingly, for those who are interested in why some ideas prosper whereas other claims “burn out”, this paper offers a “test-driven” analytical framework that can be applied to discern how academic writing on law evolves over time.
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Footnotes
This paper is based on an inaugural lecture given at the Law Faculty at the University of Cambridge in October 2003. The author is grateful for comments by Deborah DeMott, Lyman Johnson, Matthew Kramer, Lynn Stout and for feedback received at law faculty seminars at UCLA and the University of Manchester.
References
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48 To illustrate, a search of Westlaw's ‘JLR’ directory conducted in February 2004 with the query ‘’ ‘Thomas Kuhn’ and paradigm’ yielded 579 documents. This electronic database has wide coverage of US law reviews extending back to the early 1980s.
49 Summarising Kuhn is difficult, in part because Kuhn qualified many of his assertions after the first edition of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago 1962). On this pattern, see Blaug, above note 47, at 855. For a thorough overview of Kuhn's work, see Paul Hoyningen- Heune, , Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S. Kuhn's Philosophy of Science (Chicago 1993).Google Scholar
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52 Ibid, at 170-173, 206-207.
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63 Note, though, that Kuhn explicitly identified the use of precedent in judicial decisions as an example of paradigm elaboration: Kuhn, above note 47, at 23.
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72 Herbert Hovenkamp, Enterprise and American Law, 1836-1937, (Cambridge, Mass. 1991), 346. On the more general proposition that the operation of market forces can yield intellectual progress, see van Doren, above note 15, at 95-97; Nisbet, above note 17, at 187-193, 299 (focusing primarily on the work of Adam Smith).
73 See Lasson, above note 9, at 948-949; Chereminsky and Fisk, above note 71, at 677-678.
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77 Zimmerman, above note 3, at 692; David L. Gregory, ‘The Assault on Scholarship’ (1991) 32 Wm. and Mary L. Rev. 993, 996-997, 1001.
78 Si Li and Hui Ou-Yang, ‘Incentives, Performance, and Academic Tenure’ (2003), unpublished working paper ( providing data indicating that the number of publications and number of citations generated by economists at leading American universities is much the same before and after tenure).
79 Ellickson, above note 71, at 169 (raising the possibility to cast doubt upon it).
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84 Posner, above note 75, at 1928 (making this observation while characterising the production of legal scholarship in sociobiological terms).
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88 Ibid.
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104 Virginia Nolan and Edmund Ursin, ‘The Deacademification of Tort Theory’ (1999) 48 U. Kan. L. Rev. 59, 59 (quoting an American Association of Law Schools pamphlet but arguing that the sense of accomplishment was misplaced).
105 Ngaire Naffine, ‘In Praise of Legal Feminism’ (2002) 22 Legal Stud. 71, 71.
106 Richard A. Epstein, ‘Law and Economics: Its Glorious Past and Cloudy Future’ (1997) 64 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1167, 1172. For a similar verdict, see Thomas S. Ulen, ‘Firmly Grounded: Economics in the Future of Law’ [1997] Wisconsin L. Rev. 433, 434, 463.
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108 Ibid. at 1251-1252, 1264.
109 See above notes 76-80 and related discussion.
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112 Academia had previously been identified as an environment where the literature seemed relevant: Hirshleifer, above note 110, at 305.
113 Sunstein, above note 107, at 1254-1256.
114 Ibid. at 1256-58. This is known as a ‘reputational cascade’. See Robert C. Ellickson, ‘The Market for Social Norms’ (2001) 3 Am. L. and Econ. Rev. 1, 26. Younger scholars do have an incentive to discover novel approaches, but arguably the legal academy's reward structure requires that their elders can appreciate an innovative move as continuing a tradition with which the elders are associated. See Tushnet, above note 91, at 581.
115 Sunstein, above note 107, at 1258-1261.
116 Ibid. at 1261-1263.
117 Ibid. at 1263-1264.
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121 Peter Cane, ‘Review of Executive Action’ in Cane and Tushnet, above note 2, 146, 157. See also Duxbury, above note 120, 964, 969-970.
122 Twining, above note 118, at 570.
123 On the notion that open v. closed networks can have an effect on the quality of legal scholarship, see Posner, above note 13, at 1325.
124 Kennedy, above note 2.
125 Ibid. at 398.
126 Ibid. at 399.
127 Under English law, ‘bankruptcy’ refers solely to insolvency proceedings involving individuals whereas corporate proceedings are referred to as ‘corporate insolvency’. See John Armour et al., ‘‘Corporate Ownership Structure and the Evolution of Bankruptcy Law: Lessons from the United Kingdom’ (2002) 55 Vand. L. Rev. 1699, 1736, n. 187.
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145 Berle and Means, above note 142, at 5.
146 Ibid. at 3.
147 Henry G. Manne, ‘The Myth of Corporate Responsibility or Will the Real Ralph Nader Please Stand Up?’ (1970) 26 Bus. Law. 533, 533.
148 Mason, Edward S., ‘Introduction’ in Mason, Edward S. (ed.), The Corporation in Modern Society (Cambridge, Mass 1959), pp. 1, 4.Google Scholar
149 Carl Kaysen, ‘The Social Significance of the Modern Corporation’ (1957) 47 Am. Econ. Rev. 311, 316. See also Carney, William J., ‘The Legacy of ‘The Market for Corporate Control’ and the Origins of the Theory of the Firm’ (1999) 50 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 215, 221, 223Google Scholar (summarising the literature).
150 Bayless Manning, ‘Thinking Straight About Corporate Law Reform’ (1977) 41 Law and Contemp. Probs. 3, 14.
151 Elliot J. Weiss, ‘Social Regulation of Business Activity: Reforming the Corporate Governance System to Resolve an Institutional Impasse’ (1981) 28 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 343, 414.
152 Eisenberg, Melvin A., ‘Legal Models of Management Structure in the Modern Corporation: Officers, Directors, and Accountants’ (1975) 63 Cal. L. Rev. 375. 407–409.Google Scholar
153 J.A.C. Hetherington, , ‘Redefining the Task of Corporation Law’ (1985) 19 U. San. Fran. L. Rev. 229. 235.Google Scholar
154 Bratton, above note 140, at 761-762; Phillip I. Blumberg, ‘The Politicization of the Corporation’ (1971) 26 Bus. Law. 1551, 1556; Scott R. Bowman, The Modern Corporation and American Political Thought: Law, Power, and Ideology (University Park, Pennsylvania 1996), 186, 206.
155 Berle and Means, above note 142, Book I, ch. 3.
156 Ibid. at 309-313. It is somewhat ironic that Berle and Means’ work cast doubt on what was the received wisdom under American law, namely that generating profits for shareholders is the objective corporations should pursue. This is because Berle, in a well-known exchange with E.M. Dodd, expressed doubt whether the law was capable of expanding to accommodate the perceived public responsibilities of the modern corporation. For an overview of the debate, see Dalia Tsuk, ‘Corporations Without Labour: The Politics of Progressive Corporate Law’ (2003) 151 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1861, 1891-1896, 1899.
157 See, for example, Weiss, above note 151, at 344-346, 418-426; Abram Chayes, ‘The Modern Corporation and the Rule of Law’ in Mason, above note 148, at 25, 38-45.
158 Romano, Roberta, ‘Metapolitics and Corporate Law Reform’ (1984) 36 Stan. L. Rev. 923. 923.Google Scholar
159 Berle, Adolf A., ‘Modern Functions of the Corporate System’ (1962) 62 Colum. L. Rev. 433. 433.Google Scholar
160 Henry G. Manne, ‘Intellectual Styles and the Evolution of American Corporate Law’ in Gerard Radnitzky and Peter Bernholz, (eds.), Economic Imperialism: The Economic Approach Applied Outside the Field of Economics (New York 1987), 219, 223. For similar observations, see Robert Hessen, ‘A New Concept of Corporations: A Contractual and Private Property Model’ (1979) 30 Hastings L.J. 1327, 1329; George W. Dent, ‘Toward Unifying Ownership and Control in the Public Corporation’ [1989] Wisc. L. Rev. 881, 881.
161 Bratton, William W., ‘The ‘Nexus of Contracts’ Corporation: A Critical Appraisal’ (1989) 74 Cornell L. Rev. 407. 415–416;Google Scholar Paddy Ireland, ‘Defending the Rentier: Corporate Theory and the Reprivatisation of the Public Company’ in John Parkinson et al. (eds.), The Political Economy of the Company (Oxford 2000), 141, 157-158.
162 The most influential paper in this movement was Michael C. Jensen and William H. Meckling, ‘Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behaviour, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure’ (1976) 3 J. Fin. Econ. 305, 307.
163 See ibid. at 311 (‘a nexus for contracting relationships’); Eugene F. Fama, ‘Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm’ (1980) 88 J. Pol. Econ. 288, 290.
164 Jensen and Meckling, above note 162 was the seminal contribution to the literature.
165 The economy theory of agency costs must be distinguished from the legal concept of agency: Brian R. Cheffins, Company Law: Theory, Structure and Operation (Oxford 1997), 45.
166 Jason Scott Johnston, ‘The Influence of ‘The Nature of the Firm’ on the Theory of Corporate Law’ (1993) 18 J. Corp. L. 213, 234-235.
167 On this and other market-oriented constraints managers face, see Cheffins, above note 165, at 117-123.
168 Lynne L. Dallas, ‘Working Toward a New Paradigm’ in Lawrence E. Mitchell, (ed.), Progressive Corporate Law (Boulder, Colorado 1995), pp. 35, 37; Ross Grantham, ‘The Doctrinal Basis of the Rights of Company Shareholders’ [1998] C.L.J. 554, 554-555; Paddy Ireland, ‘Company Law and the Myth of Shareholder Ownership’ (1999) 62 Mod. L. Rev. 32, 32, 48-49.
169 Fama, above note 163, at 290.
170 Daniel R. Fischel, The ‘’ ‘Race to the Bottom’ Revisited: Reflections on Recent Developments in Delaware's Corporation Law’ (1982) 76 Nw. U. L. Rev. 913, 917-918; Stephen M. Bainbridge, ‘In Defense of the Shareholder Wealth Maximization Norm: A Reply to Professor Green’ (1993) 50 Wash. and Lee L. Rev. 1423, 1428.
171 Cheffins, above note 165, at 54, 71, 87; Klein, William A., ‘The Modern Business Organization: Bargaining Under Constraints’ (1982) 91 Yale L.J. 1521. 1538–1540;Google Scholar Easterbrook, Frank H., and Fischel, Daniel R., The Economic Structure of Corporate Law (Cambridge, Mass. 1991), 67–68.Google Scholar For criticism of the thesis that shareholders constitute residual claimants, see Lynn A. Stout, ‘Bad and Not-so-Bad Arguments for Shareholder Primacy’ (2002) 75 So. Cal. L. Rev. 1189, 1193-1195.
172 Easterbrook, Frank H., and Fischel, Daniel R., ‘Voting in Corporate Law’ (1983) 26 J. L. and Econ. 395, 403. 406;Google Scholar Melvin A. Eisenberg, ‘The Conception That the Corporation is a Nexus of Contracts, and the Dual Nature of the Firm’ (1999) 24 J. Corp. L. 819, 833-834; Thomas A. Smith, ‘The Efficient Norm for Corporate Law: A Neotraditional Interpretation of Fiduciary Duty’ (1999) 98 Mich. L. Rev. 214, 215-217.
173 Easterbrook and Fischel, above note 171, at 38, 68; der Weide, Mark E. Van, ‘Against Fiduciary Duties to Corporate Stakeholders’ (1996) 21 Del. J. Corp. L. 27. 57–66;Google Scholar Michael Bradley, et al., ‘‘The Purposes and Accountability of the Corporation in Contemporary Society: Corporate Governance at Crossroads’ (1999) 62 Law and Contemp. Probs. 9, 37-38.
174 Van der Weide, above note 173, at 35-55; Macey, Jonathan R. and Miller, Geoffrey P., ‘Corporate Stakeholders: A Contractual Perspective’ (1993) 43 U. Toronto L.J. 401. 416419;Google Scholar Roberta Romano, ‘Corporate Law and Corporate Governance’ (1996) 5 Indus. and Corp. Change 277, 279-280.
175 Douglas M. Branson, ‘A Corporate Paleontologist's Look at Law and Economics in the Seventh Circuit’ (1989) 65 Chicago-Kent L. Rev. 745, 745.
176 Allen, William T., ‘Contracts and Communities in Corporation Law’ (1993) 50 Wash. and Lee L. Rev. 1395, 1401. See also Johnston, above note 166, at 213. 231;Google Scholar Lewis A. Kornhauser, ‘The Nexus of Contracts Approach to Corporations: A Comment on Easterbrook and Fischel’ (1989) 89 Colum. L. Rev. 1449, 1449; William W. Bratton, ‘The Economic Structure of the Post-Contractual Corporation’ (1992) 87 Nw. U. L. Rev. 180, 180, 190.
177 J. Mark Ramseyer, ‘Corporate Law’ in Newman, above note 110, vol. 1, 503, 504.
178 Douglas M. Branson, ‘Corporate Governance ‘Reform’ and the New Corporate Social Responsibility’ (2001) 62 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 605, 619.
179 Allen, above note 176, at 1399 (saying that some of corporate law's ‘most respected minds remain among the unconverted”); G. Mitu Gulati et al., ‘‘Connected Contracts” (2000) 47 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 887, 947.
180 See, for instance, Orts, Eric W., ‘Shirking and Sharking: A Legal Theory of the Firm” (1998) 16 Yale L. and Pol'y Rev. 265, 266-267, 298-299;Google Scholar Blair, Margaret M., and Stout, Lynn A., ‘Trust, Trustworthiness, and the Behavioural Foundations of Corporate Law” (2001) 149 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1735, 1737-1738;Google Scholar Maynard, Therese H., ‘Law Matters. Lawyers Matter” (2002) 76 Tul. L. Rev. 1501, 1507, 1528.Google Scholar
181 Coffee, John C., ‘Do Norms Matter? A Cross-Country Evaluation” (2001) 149 U. Pa. L. Rev. 2151, 2151;Google Scholar Eisenberg, Melvin A., ‘Corporate Law and Social Norms” (1999) 99 Colum. L. Rev. 1253, 1253-1254, 1291.Google Scholar
182 Edward B. Rock, and Michael L. Wachter, ‘Islands of Conscious Power: Law, Norms and the Self-Governing Corporation” (2001) 149 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1619, 1629-1630, 1638-1639.
183 Ibid. at 1621-1623. Rock and Wachter prefer, however, to refer to ‘nonlegally enforceable rules and standards” or ‘NLERS” rather than norms: ibid. at 1641.
184 Cf. Marcel Kahan, ‘The Limited Significance of Norms for Corporate Governance” (2001) 149 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1869, 1870, 1900.
185 On the wording, see Blair, Margaret M., and Stout, Lynn A., ‘A Team Production Theory of Corporate Law’ (1999) 85 Va. L. Rev. 247, 278. They have developed their ideas further in Blair and Stout, above not. 180;Google Scholar Margaret M. Blair and Lynn A. Stout, ‘Director Accountability and the Mediating Role of the Corporate Board’ (2001) 79 Wash. U.L.Q. 403.
186 Blair and Stout, ‘Team’ above note 185, at 271-272, 275-285; Blair and Stout, ‘Director’ above note 185, at 411-422.
187 Blair and Stout, ‘Team’ above note 185, at 253, 286, 298-305; Blair and Stout, ‘Director’ above note 185, at 424 425.
188 David Millon, ‘New Game Plan or Business as Usual? A Critique of the Team Production Model of Corporate Law’ (2000) 86 Va. L. Rev. 1001, 1005-1009, 1023-1024.
189 Blair and Stout, above note 180, at 1756-1757; Blair and Stout, ‘Team’ above note 185, at 283.
190 Blair and Stout, ‘Team’ above note 185, at 283-284, 316; Blair and Stout, ‘Director’ above note 185, at 436-443.
191 Blair and Stout, above note 180, at 1741, 1766-1774; Blair and Stout, ‘Director’ above note 185, at 439-440. Blair and Stout do not specifically mention ‘behavioural economics’. They rely sufficiently on the relevant literature, however, to be cited as authors who do so. See, for example, Kent Greenfield, ‘Using Behavioural Economics to Show the Power and Efficiency of Corporate Law as a Regulatory Tool’ (2002) 35 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 581, 585, n. 9.
192 Cass R. Sunstein, ‘Introduction’ in Cass R. Sunstein, (ed.), Behavioural Law and Economics (Cambridge 2000), 1, 8.
193 Arlen, Jennifer et al., ‘‘Endowment Effects Within Corporate Agency Relationships’ (2002) 31 J. Legal Stud. 1. 2–4;Google Scholar for examples of corporate law scholarship where inferences have been drawn from behavioural economics, see Greenfield, above note 191, at 585, n. 9.
194 Arlen et al., above note 193, at 5-6, 33.
195 Hansmann, Henry, and Kraakman, Reinier, ‘The Essential Role of Organizational Law’ (2000) 110 Yale L.J. 387;Google Scholar Henry Hansmann and Reinier Kraakman, ‘Organizational Law as Asset Partitioning’ (2000) 44 Eur. Econ. Rev. 807. See also John Armour and Michael J. Whincop, ‘An Economic Analysis of Shared Property in Partnership and Close Corporations Law’ (2001) 26 J. Corp. L. 983.
196 Hansmann and Kraakman, ‘Essential’ above note 195, at 391.
197 Ibid. at 393-396.
198 Ibid. at 428-432; see also Cheffins, above note 165, at 39 40.
199 Hansmann and Kraakman, ‘Essential’ above note 195, at 406-423.
200 See above note 139 and related discussion.
201 Cheffins, above note 10, at 209.
202 Cioffi, John W, ‘State of the Art: A Review Essay on ‘Comparative Corporate Governance: The State of the Art and Emerging Research’” (2000) 48 Am. J. Comp. L. 501, 509.Google Scholar See also Foster, Nicholas H.D., ‘Company Law Theory in Comparative Perspective: England and France’ (2000) 48 Am. J. Comp. L. 573, 606-608.Google Scholar
203 Foster, above note 202 at 586-592; Rogerson, Pippa, ‘Book Review’ (1994) 53 Cambridge L.J. 601. 601;Google Scholar Paddy Ireland, ‘Property and Contract in Contemporary Corporate Theory’ (2003) 23 Legal Stud. 453, 453. There were occasional isolated exceptions to the dominant pattern, such as Hadden, Tom, Company Law and Capitalism (London 1972).Google Scholar
204 Stokes, Mary, ‘Company Law and Legal Theory’ in Twining, William (ed.), Legal Theory and Common Law (Oxford 1986), pp. 155, 155.Google Scholar
205 Lahey, Kathleen A., and Salter, Sarah W., ‘Corporate Law in Legal Theory and Legal Scholarship: From Classicism to Feminism’ (1985) 23 Osgoode Hall L.J. 543. 557–569;Google Scholar Katherine H. Hall, ‘The Interior Design of Corporate Law: Why Theory is Vital to the Development of Corporate Law in Australia’ (1996) 6 Austl. J. Corp. L. 1, 1, 4-5; David Wishart, ‘Does the High Court Understand Corporations Law?’ (1996) 6 Austl. J. Corp. L. 424, 436-438 (acknowledging that some theoretical work had been done in Australia but arguing that it was superficial in orientation).
206 This is consistent with general trends. See David E. Van Zandt, ‘American Jurisprudence, 1870-1970: a History, by James E. Herget (Book Review)’ (1991) 28 Hous. L. Rev. 965, 968 (saying that foreign scholars increasingly want to learn more about American theories and approaches and see their own country's scholarship as too closely tied to practice).
207 Cioffi, above note 202, at 508-509.
208 Cheffins, above note 10, at 209; Foster, above note 202, at 593-594; Byran Horrigan, ‘Teaching and Integrating Recent Developments in Corporate Law, Theory and Practice’ (2001) 13 Austl. J. of Corp. L. 182, 185-186.
209 Cioffi, above note 202, at 509; Foster, above note 202, at 593; VanDuzer, J. Anthony, ‘Book Review’ (1998) 77 Can. Bar Rev. 567. 567;Google Scholar Michael Whincop, ‘Of Fault and Default: Contractarianism as a Theory of Anglo-Australian Corporate Law’ (1997) 21 Melb. U. L. Rev. 187, 188-189.
210 Grantham, above note 168, at 578-579; J.E. Parkinson, ‘The Contractual Theory of the Company and the Protection of Non-Shareholder Interests’ in David Feldman and Frank Meisel, (eds.), Corporate and Commercial Law: Modern Developments, (London 1996) 121, 121; Robert Yalden, ‘Book Review’ (1999) 31 Can. Bus. L.J. 479, 479; Michael Whincop, ‘Painting the Corporate Cathedral: The Protection of Entitlements in Corporate Law’ (1999) 19 Oxford J. Legal St. 19, 19-20.
211 Yalden, above note 210, at 479.
212 See, for example, Pettet, above note 141, at 78-81; Ireland, above note 203, at 454 456; Parkinson, above note 210, at 140-141; Dine, Janet, The Governance of Corporate Groups (Cambridge 2000), 12–17.Google Scholar
213 John Lowry and Alan Dignam, Company Law, 2nd ed. (London 2003), 372-73; see also Pettet, above note 141, at 66, n. 105 (citing examples from the ‘immense’ stakeholder literature).
214 See above note 21 and related discussion.
215 Berle and Means, above note 142, Book I, chapters 4, 5.
216 For a careful effort to test and challenge Berle and Means’ empirical findings, see Burch, Philip H., The Managerial Revolution Reassessed: Family Control in America's Large Corporations (Lexington, Mass. 1972), 113–143.Google Scholar
217 Johnston, above note 166, at 220.
218 See, for example, Berle and Means, above note 142, Book II, chapters I-IV, VII.
219 Johnston, above note 166, at 219-229.
220 John C. Coffee, ‘Beyond the Shut-Eyed Sentry: Toward a Theoretical View of Corporate Misconduct and an Effective Legal Response’ (1977) 63 Va. L. Rev. 1099, 1109-1110.
221 See above notes 175-176 and related text.
222 See above note 30 and accompanying discussion.
223 Johnston, above note 166, at 239-240; McChesney, Fred S., ‘Economics, Law, and Science in the Corporate Field” (1989) 89 Colum. L. Rev. 1530, 1538.Google Scholar
224 Lyman Johnson, ‘Individual and Collective Sovereignty in the Corporate Enterprise” (1992) 92 Colum. L. Rev. 2215, 2217-2218.
225 Lawrence E. Mitchell, ‘Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Corporate Law” (1993) 50 Wash. and Lee L. Rev. 1477, 1477.
226 Sanjai Bhagat and Roberta Romano, ‘Event Studies and the Law: Part II—Empirical Studies of Corporate Law” (2002) 4 Am. L. and Econ. Rev. 380, 381.
227 Ibid. at 382.
228 On the informational content of share prices and event studies, see Sanjai Bhagat and Roberta Romano, ‘Event Studies and the Law: Part I—Technique and Corporate Litigation” (2002) 4 Am. L. and Econ. Rev. 141, 143 (saying, though, that event studies may be useful even if share prices do not adjust rapidly to new information). On the fact that it cannot be taken for granted that share prices are a reliable indicator of firm value, see Shleifer, Andrei, Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioural Finance (Oxford 2000) 178–84.Google Scholar
229 For overviews of the literature, see Choi, Stephen J., ‘Law, Finance and Path Dependence: Developing Strong Securities Markets’ (2002) 80 Tex. L. Rev. 1657. 1672–1673;Google Scholar Diane K. Denis and John J. McConnell, ‘International Corporate Governance’ (2003) 38 J. Fin. and Quantitative Analysis 1, 20-26.
230 Fred S. McChesney, ‘Positive Economics and All That’ (1992) 61 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 272, 289-92.
231 Ibid. at 292.
232 See above notes 44-45 and accompanying text.
233 See above notes 54-56 and related discussion.
234 See sources cited below notes 235-236, 241 and accompanying text.
235 Nevertheless, ‘paradigm’ terminology has been used to describe the corporate personality debate. See, for example, Mark, above note 139, at 1466-1467, n. 66; Stephen Bottomley, ‘Taking Corporations Seriously: Some Considerations for Corporate Regulation'’ (1990) 19 Fed. L. Rev. 203, 206-213.
236 Examples of those who have described Berle and Means’ work in this way include Carney, above note 149, at 217, 224; Bratton, above note 176, at 180; Thomas Lee Hazen, ‘The Corporate Persona, Contract (and Market) Failure, and Moral Values’ (1991) 69 N.C. L. Rev. 273, 304.
237 See text following note 50.
238 Manne, above note 147, at 534. See also Hetherington, J.A.C., ‘Fact and Legal Theory: Shareholders, Managers, and Corporate Social Responsibility’ (1969) 21 Stan. L. Rev. 248. 272;Google Scholar Robert Hessen, ‘The Modern Corporation and Private Property: A Reappraisal’ (1983) 26 J. L. and Econ. 273, 288.
239 On Manne's work on this topic, see Carney, above note 149, at 231-236.
240 On the fact that Manne deserves credit for a critique of existing orthodoxy rather than for developing an affirmative economically grounded theory of the corporation, see Allen Kaufman and Lawrence Zacharias, ‘From Trust to Contract: The Legal Language of Managerial Ideology, 1920-1980’ (1992) 66 Bus. Hist. Rev. 523, 546-547, 553.
241 For examples of those who have described contractarian analysis in these terms, see Allen, above note 176, at 1401, 1406; Bratton, above note 176, at 180-181, 190; Whincop, above note 210, at 27; Robert John Schulze, ‘Can This Marriage be Saved? Reconciling Progressivism with Profits in Corporate Governance Laws’ (1997) 49 Stan. L. Rev. 1607, 1610.
242 Ulen, above note 35, at 886-887 (making the same point about economic analysis generally, referring to work which has been done in the field of behavioural economics).
243 See above note 65 and related discussion.
244 See above note 179 and accompanying text.
245 On the doctrinal focus outside the United States, see above notes 202-205 and related discussion. Note, though, that up to the 1980s much American corporate law scholarship was in fact doctrinally oriented: Johnson, above note 224, at 2217; Charles R.T. O’Kelley, ‘Foreword: The Many Passions of Teaching Corporations’ (2000) 34 Ga L. Rev. 423, 426. Also, it would have been somewhat perverse if Berle and Means’ work had set the agenda outside the US since a separation of ownership and control is not the norm elsewhere. See Rafael La Porta et al., ‘‘Investor Protection and Corporate Governance’ (2000) 58 J. Fin. Econ. 3, 15.
246 See above notes 208, 210, 211 and related discussion.
247 See above notes 207, 212 and accompanying text.
248 See above note 70 and related discussion.
249 See above notes 73-75 and accompanying text.
250 See above notes 81-85 and related discussion.
251 Arnold S. Jacobs, ‘An Analysis of Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934’ 32 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 209 (1987), which also has some 4800 footnotes. On its status as the longest law review article, see Rhode, above note 2, at 1334-1335; Lasson, above note 9, at 937-938.
252 Bayless Manning, ‘The Shareholder's Appraisal Remedy: An Essay for Frank Coker’ (1962) 72 Yale L.J. 223, 245, n. 37.
253 Romano, above note 158, at 923.
254 Lahey and Salter, above note 205, at 569.
255 Lowry and Dignam, above note 213, at 371; Caroline Bradley and Judith Freedman, ‘Changing Company Law” (1990) 53 Mod. L. Rev. 397, 398; C.A. Riley, ‘Gower: Still a Blueprint for Curriculum Reform in Company Law?” (1993) 13 Oxford J. Legal Stud. 271, 271.
256 Cioffi, above note 202, at 509.
257 Prentice, D.D., ‘Some Observations on the Teaching of Company Law” in Birks, P.B.H. (ed.), Examining the Syllabus: Beyond the Core (Oxford 1993), 33, 35.Google Scholar
258 Yalden, above note 210, at 479. See also Bauman, Richard W., ‘Liberalism and Canadian Corporate Law” in Devlin, Richard F. (ed.), Canadian Perspectives on Legal Theory (Toronto 1991), 75, 75.Google Scholar
259 Romano, Roberta, ‘Preface” in Romano, Roberta (ed.), Foundations of Corporate Law (Oxford 1992) v, v.Google Scholar
260 Richard M. Buxbaum, ‘New Owners and Old Managers: Lessons from the Socialist Camp” (1993) 18 Del. J. Corp. L. 867, 868.
261 Deborah A. DeMott, ‘Trust and Tension Within Corporations” (1996) 81 Cornell L. Rev. 1308, 1308, 1335.
262 Yalden, above note 210, at 479.
263 Prentice, above note 257, at 35.
264 Johnston, above note 166, at 219.
265 Johnson, above note 224, at 2217. On his scepticism towards economics, see ibid. at 2217-2218.
266 Romano, above note 259, at v; Buxbaum, above note 260, at 868; DeMott, above note 261, at 1312, 1335. See also Mitchell, above note 225, at 1477, 1481-1482; O’Kelley, above note 245, at 426.
267 See above notes 77, 79-80 and accompanying text.
268 See above notes 86-93 and related discussion.
269 A.A. Sommer, ‘Whom Should the Corporation Serve? The Berle-Dodd Debate Revisited Sixty Years Later’ (1991) 16 Del. J. Corp. L. 33, 33. See also William T. Allen, ‘Our Schizophrenic Conception of the Business Corporation’ (1992) 14 Cardozo L. Rev. 261, 278281; Eric W. Orts, ‘The Complexity and Legitimacy of Corporate Law’ (1993) 50 Wash. and Lee L. Rev. 1565, 1571.
270 Elliott Goldstein, ‘Future Articulation of Corporation Law’ (1984) 39 Bus. Law. 1541, 1541.
271 Allen, above note 269, at 280-281.
272 On the ‘contractual/association’ thesis, see above note 138 and accompanying text. On the link with the nexus of contracts model, see Bratton, above note 141, at 1472-1473, 15131515, 1526; Gregory A. Mark, ‘Some Observations on Writing the Legal History of the Corporation in the Age of Theory’ in Mitchell, above note 168, 67, 72-73.
273 On the fiction theory of the corporation, see above note 138 and related discussion. On Hansmann and Kraakman's asset partitioning characterisation of the corporation, see above notes 195-199 and accompanying text. For additional arguments that the fiction theory might have contemporary relevance, see Fiona Macmillan Patfield, ‘Challenges for Company Law’ in Fiona Macmillan Patfield (ed.), Perspectives on Company Law, vol. 1 (London 1995), 1, 89; Jennifer Hill, ‘Visions and Revisions of the Shareholder” (2000) 48 Am. J. Comp. L. 39, 56-57.
274 Note, though, that Hansmann and Kraakman downplay links between their asset-oriented analysis on the one hand and theories of juridical personality on the other: Hansmann and Kraakman, ‘Essential’ above note 195, at 438-439.
275 The cyclical quality of debates on these issues has been recognised elsewhere. On managerial accountability, see Bratton, above note 140, 755-756; Bratton, above note 176, 182; David Millon, ‘Redefining Corporate Law’ (1991) 24 Ind. L. Rev. 223, 225. On corporate goals and responsibilities, see Branson, above note 178, at 635-639; Sommer, above note 269, at 33-36; Roberta S. Karmel, ‘The Independent Corporate Board: A Means to What End?’ (1984) 52 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 534, 535-543.
276 See above notes 145-146 and related discussion.
277 See above notes 147-152 and accompanying text.
278 See above notes 164-165 and related discussion.
279 Carlton, Alfred P., ‘21st Century Corporate Responsibility—Evolution, Revolution, or Back to the Future’ (2002) 54 Mercer L. Rev. 671. 672–673;Google Scholar for a plea that a ‘pendulum-like movement’ be avoided, see Bengt Holmstrom and Steven N. Kaplan, ‘The State of US Corporate Governance: What's Right and What's Wrong?’ J. Applied Corp. Fin., Spring 2003, 8, 20.
280 Stout, above note 171, at 1189-1190, 1208; C.A. Harwell Wells, ‘The Cycles of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Historical Retrospective for the Twenty-first Century’ (2002) 51 U. Kan. L. Rev. 77, 78-79, 82.
281 See above note 154 and related discussion.
282 See above notes 157 and accompanying text.
283 See above notes 188, 213 and related discussion. On the team production model as a component of the long-standing debates on corporate social responsibility, see Stout, above note 171, at 1195; Wells, above note 280, at 136-139.
284 See, for example, Bratton, William A. ‘Never Trust a Corporation’ (2002) 70 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 867, 867Google Scholar (‘corporate responsibility is a problem that never goes away … from policy agendas in academic corporate law’).
285 Kuhn, above note 47, at 153, 169. On the other hand, a cyclical account does not square fully with the Kuhnian characterisation of science, since he argued that scientific development should be ‘a unidirectional and irreversible process’: ibid. at 206.
286 See above note 94 and accompanying text.
287 The same point can potentially be made in relation to corporate goals and responsibilities: Stout, above note 171, at 1208 (arguing that even if the debate about the purpose of the corporation which has been going on since the 1930s has not been resolved, ‘there has been some progress in our understanding of it’).
288 Bratton, above note 176, at 182, n. 18.
289 Johnston, above note 166, at 231-241.
290 See above notes 238-239 and related discussion.
291 DeMott, above note 261, at 1335.
292 Cf. Sunstein, above note 107, at 1252 (making the same point about legal scholarship generally).
293 Ibid.
294 Ibid.
295 Ibid. at 1262.
296 Tsuk, above note 156, at 1883; Walter Werner, ‘Management, Stock Market and Corporate Reform: Berle and Means Reconsidered’ (1977) 77 Colum. L. Rev. 388, 394-395.
297 George J. Stigler and Claire Friedland, ‘The Literature of Economics: The Case of Berle and Means’ (1983) 26 J.L. and Econ. 237, 241-242.
298 Hessen, above note 238, at 279; Werner, above note 296, at 395; Joseph L. Weiner, ‘The Berle-Dodd Dialogue on the Concept of the Corporation’ (1964) 64 Colum. L. Rev. 1458, 1461.
299 Sunstein, above note 107, at 1262.
300 See above notes 161-163 and related discussion.
301 Elaine A. Welle, ‘Freedom of Contract and the Securities Laws: Opting Out of Securities Regulation by Private Agreement’ (1999) 56 Wash. and Lee L. Rev. 519, 524-525.
302 Bratton, above note 141, at 1524-1525; Tsuk, above note 156, at 1904; Cynthia A. Williams, ‘Corporate Compliance with the Law in the Era of Efficiency’ (1998) 76 N.C. L. Rev. 1265, 1287-1288.
303 Thompson, Robert B., ‘The Law's Limits on Contracts in a Corporation’ (1990) 15 J. Corp. L. 377. 388;Google Scholar Robert A. Hillman, The Richness of Contract Law: An Analysis and Critique of Contemporary Theories of Contract Law (Dordrecht 1997), 98-99. For examples of deregulatory bias, see Hetherington, above note 153, at 251-254, 257; McChesney, above note 223, at 1544, 1548; Frank H. Easterbrook and Daniel R. Fischel, ‘The Corporate Contract’ (1989) 89 Colum. L. Rev. 1416, 1442.
304 See above note 117 and related discussion and text following note 122.
305 Bratton, above note 176, at 197; Johnson, above note 224, at 2218; Douglas M. Branson, ‘The Death of Contractarianism and the Vindication of Structure and Authority in Corporate Governance and Corporate Law’ in Mitchell, above note 168, 93, at 105.
306 Melvin A. Eisenberg, ‘Contractarianism Without Contracts: A Response to Professor McChesney’ (1990) 90 Colum. L. Rev. 1321, 1331. He was certainly not the only sceptic. See above note 179 and accompanying text.
307 See above note 180 and related discussion.
308 Eisenberg, above note 172, at 818, 823, 827, 829.
309 See above note 123 and related discussion.
310 See above notes 127-131 and accompanying text.
311 Cheffins, above note 10, at 214-215.
312 Stephen Bainbridge, ‘Community and Statism: A Conservative Contractarian Critique of Progressive Corporate Law Scholarship” (1997) 82 Cornell L. Rev. 856, 858-859.
313 Thomas Ulen, ‘The Coasean Firm in Law and Economics” (1993) 18 J. Corp. L. 301, 331.
314 Law Commission and Scottish Law Commission, Company Directors: Regulating Conflicts of Interests and Formulating a Statement of Duties (Law Commission Consultation Paper No. 153), (London 1998), Part 3.
315 DeMott, above note 261, 1335. See also Lyman Johnson, ‘New Approaches to Corporate Law’ (1993) 50 Wash. and Lee L. Rev. 1713, 1723.
316 DeMott, above note 261, 1335.
317 Kissam, Philip C., ‘The Decline of Law School Professionalism’ (1986) 134 U. Pa. L. Rev. 251. 297;Google Scholar Charles W. Collier, ‘The Use and Abuse of Humanistic Theory in Law: Reexamining the Assumptions of Interdisciplinary Legal Scholarship’ (1991) 41 Duke L.J. 191, 203; Joseph P. Tomain and Paul L. Caron, ‘The Associate Dean for Faculty Research Position: Encouraging and Promoting Scholarship’ (2001) 33 U. Tol. L. Rev. 233, 237.
318 See above note 291 and related discussion.
319 Baldwin and Davis, above note 34, at 884-885; Allen, Ronald J., ‘Two Aspects of Law and Theory’ (2000) 37 San Diego L. Rev. 743. 745;Google Scholar Friedman, Barry, ‘The Counter-Majoritarian Problem and the Pathology of Constitutional Scholarship” (2001) 94 Nw. U.L. Rev. 933, 933, 951-952.Google Scholar
320 Heise, above note 34, at 826.
321 Livingston, Michael A., ‘Reinventing Tax Scholarship: Lawyers, Economists, and the Role of the Legal Academy” (1998) 83 Cornell L. Rev. 365, 383;Google Scholar Beverley I. Moran, ‘Taxation” in Cane and Tushnet, above note 2, 377, 385-387.
322 Johnson, above note 315, at 1721.
323 See above notes 252-254 and related discussion.
324 Livingston, above note 321, at 385 (acknowledging that corporate law scholarship is, in key respects, significantly ahead of tax scholarship).
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