Remedies and sanctions against corporate officers for breaches of duties under part 3.2 of the Corporations Law

  • Foong Mee Lee

    Student thesis: Master's Thesis

    Abstract

    The subject of sanctions and remedies against corporate officers for breaches of the provisions in the Corporations Law is an area of the law which has been largely neglected by the legislature. Although there have been several legislative reforms on remedies since the Corporations Law came into force, those reforms were ad hoc in nature and no attempt has been made to carry out a comprehensive review to assess the effectiveness of the existing sanctions and remedies in context of the needs of contemporary society. In consequence, there is increasing concern that the remedies employed in Australia for breaches of the Corporations Law are inadequate, inconsistent, out-dated and are confined within a narrow range. This thesis seeks to evaluate the current package of sanctions and remedies provided under Part 3.2 of the Corporations Law. As part of this exercise, comparative studies are made with the remedies of other jurisdictions. The provisions for sanctions in Part 3.2 are measured against parallel provisions in the Crimes Act of the Commonwealth and of New South Wales and Victoria. They are also measured against corresponding provisions in selected foreign jurisdictions. A further comparison is made between the traditional civil remedies under the common law and those in the Corporations Law. The evaluation of the sanctioning regime m Part 3.2 is made against the criteria appropriateness, adequacy, consistency and accessibility. This thesis discusses the need for a complete re-assessment of the penalty structure to bring the remedies in line with community expectations.
    Date of Award1994
    Original languageEnglish

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