Corporate Attribution in Private Law

Looking at key questions of how companies are held accountable under private law, this book presents a succinct and accessible framework for analysing and answering corporate attribution problems in private law.Corporate attribution is the process by which the acts and states of mind of human individuals are treated as those of a company to establish the company’s rights, duties, and liabilities. But when and why are acts and states of mind attributed in private law? Drawing on a wide range of material from across the disparate areas of company law, agency law, and the laws of contract, tort, unjust enrichment, and equitable obligations, this book’s central argument is that attribution turns on the allocation and delegation of the company’s own powers to act. This approach allows for a much greater and clearer understanding of attribution. A further benefit is that it shows attribution to be much more united and coherent than it is commonly thought to be. Looking at corporate attribution across the broad expanse of the common law, this book will be of interest to lawyers across the common law world, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Singapore.

Leow’s analysis is thorough without being verbose – the clarity of expression is to be commended … Corporate Attribution is a highly accessible publication. It would be equally at home in the footnote of a superior court judgment, as it would on a required reading list for a corporations law course., Everyone interested in this fascinating area of the law – whether as judges, practitioners, academics or students – will benefit from reading this book.

Rachel Leow is Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore, Singapore.