A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Law

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Law A Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Law Victoria University of Wellington The Bona Fide Investor: Corporate Nationality and Treaty Shopping in Investment Treaty Law Simon Foote QC 2 November 2020 2 Abstract This thesis addresses the problem of treaty shopping in investment treaty law. It seeks to illustrate how the problem stems from, and can in part be resolved by, the concept and definition of corporate nationality. It explores whether, and if so how and what, limits ought to be placed on the manipulation of nationality for the purpose of gaining investment treaty protection, to enable a principled basis to utilise nationality to prescribe the extent of rights and obligations in investment treaties. The importance of nationality requirements in investment treaties cannot be overstated—the definition of “investor” in any treaty defines which entities are entitled to substantive protections contained in the treaty for the benefit of states and investors alike. Entities making an investment need to know whether, and if so how, they can structure their investment to achieve protection of applicable investment treaties. Investors who have suffered damage need to know whether they are entitled to make a claim. States need to appreciate the extent of their potential obligations. Many investment treaties define qualifying investors in a broad way that includes any entity incorporated in a contracting state. Putative investors, including those from third states, or nationals of the host state of the investment, seek to come within the relevant definition, often by insertion of an intermediary company incorporated in the desired home state into the ownership chain of the investment. This thesis challenges the view that fulfilment of formalities set out in an investment treaty is sufficient to qualify as an investor where there is no substance behind the corporate form. To some degree, states and investment treaty tribunals have tried to abrogate treaty shopping by manipulation of corporate nationality by reference to the international law concept of genuine connection with the claimant’s state of incorporation, or by way of imposition of criteria for nationality based on the nationality of the corporate entity’s controller or proof of substantial business activity in its state of incorporation. The majority of investment treaty tribunals, however, have eschewed efforts to imply a substantive test or check on the attribution of nationality beyond literal fulfillment of nationality criteria. This thesis promotes a purposive approach that requires fulfillment of express treaty criteria for nationality, but also subjects the claimant to a substantive economic 3 reality check in which the inquiry is to determine the reason for existence of the corporate claimant in relation to the relevant investment. Such an approach is required by an interpretative methodology that gives equal weight to the four tenets of art 31(1) of the Vienna Convention: ordinary meaning, good faith, context and object and purpose. If a corporate entity exists primarily to procure treaty rights, then it is not a bona fide investor consistent with the object and purpose of investment treaty jurisdictional provisions, even if it complies with the ordinary meaning of the express formal nationality criteria. If, however, it meets any express criteria and has a genuine ulterior commercial reason to exist in the ownership structure of the investment, then it qualifies as an investor entitled to the protection of an investment treaty. The approach promoted by this thesis is derived from the treaty shopping antidote crafted by municipal courts assessing the bona fides of corporate applicants for tax relief under double tax treaties. In addition, the thesis analyses municipal law regarding piercing the corporate veil, the law of diplomatic protection, and analogous jurisdictional concepts in investment treaty law including the application of the principle of abuse of right, and identifies that underlying all these areas of inquiry is the central question of the purpose, or commercial reason to exist, of the relevant corporate entity. Finally, this thesis demonstrates how a substantive approach can be applied in a principled and reasonably certain way. 4 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 7 1.1 TREATY SHOPPING, JURISDICTION RATIONE PERSONAE AND CORPORATE NATIONALITY ........................................... 7 1.2 THE “NATIONALITY CONTROVERSY” ....................................................................................................... 11 1.3 COMPARATIVE AND ANALYTICAL EXAMINATION OF THE CORRECT APPROACH TO CORPORATE NATIONALITY IN INVESTMENT TREATY LAW .................................................................................................................... 15 2 TREATY TERMINOLOGY, INTERPRETATION AND LAW ...................................................................... 22 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 22 2.2 NATIONALITY CRITERIA IN INVESTMENT TREATIES FOR JURIDICAL PERSONS ........................................................ 23 Four principal types of nationality criteria ....................................................................................... 23 Incorporation ................................................................................................................................. 25 The seat/siège social ...................................................................................................................... 27 Control ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Effective or substantial business activities/effective or real seat ...................................................... 30 2.3 THE ICSID CONVENTION AND THE VIENNA CONVENTION ............................................................................ 32 ICSID Convention ............................................................................................................................ 32 Treaty interpretation and the Vienna Convention............................................................................ 35 Good faith interpretation ............................................................................................................... 36 Ordinary Meaning .......................................................................................................................... 37 Context .......................................................................................................................................... 39 Object and purpose ........................................................................................................................ 40 2.4 APPLICATION OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW TO INTERPRETATION OF CORPORATE NATIONALITY IN INVESTMENT TREATIES ......................................................................................................................................... 41 2.5 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................... 42 3 THE TREATY SHOPPING DEBATE IN THE INVESTMENT TREATY FIELD ............................................... 44 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 44 3.2 THE LITERAL APPROACH TO JURISDICTION RATIONE PERSONAE ....................................................................... 45 Treaty text to be applied, so long as reasonable criteria for nationality ........................................... 46 The iMpact of general international law ......................................................................................... 48 The iMpact of the object and purpose of investMent treaties .......................................................... 49 The need for certainty .................................................................................................................... 50 The undesirability of a difference between ICSID and UNCITRAL cases ............................................. 51 3.3 THE SUBSTANTIVE OR PURPOSIVE APPROACH TO THE DEFINITION OF “INVESTOR” ............................................... 52 3.4 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................... 60 4 COMPARATIVE 1: CORPORATE PERSONALITY, CORPORATE NATIONALITY, AND THE CORPORATE VEIL.................................................................................................................................................. 63 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 63 4.2 CORPORATE PERSONALITY AND NATIONAL LAW ......................................................................................... 65 4.3 LIMITS ON SEPARATE CORPORATE PERSONALITY AT INTERNATIONAL LAW ......................................................... 74 4.4 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................... 78 5 COMPARATIVE 2: NATIONALITY
Recommended publications
  • 3 Lifting the Veil
    3 Lifting the veil SUMMARY Introduction Statutory examples Veil lifting by the courts Classical veil lifting, 1897–1966 The interventionist years, 1966–1989 Back to basics, 1989–present Tortious liability Parent company personal injury tortious liability Commercial tort The costs/bene? ts of limited liability Introduction 3.1 You may not unnaturally wonder at this point what the phrase ‘lifting the veil’ is about. It refers to the situations where the judiciary or the legislature have decided that the separation of the personality of the company and the members is not to be maintained. 7 e veil of incorporation is thus said to be lifted. 7 e judiciary in particular seem to love using unhelpful metaphors to describe this process. In the course of reading cases in this area you will fi nd the process variously described as ‘lifting’, ‘peeping’, ‘penetrating’, ‘piercing’ or ‘parting’ the veil of incorporation. In a nutshell, having spent the whole of the last chapter emphasising the separateness of corporate personality, we now turn to those situations where for various reasons that separateness is not maintained. BBookook 77a.indba.indb 3311 88/14/2008/14/2008 99:08:31:08:31 PPMM 32 | Lifting the veil 3.2 While some of the examples of veil lifting involve straightforward shareholder lim- itation of liability issues many of the examples involve corporate group structures. As businesses became more adept at using the corporate form, group structures began to emerge. For example Z Ltd (the parent or holding company) owns all the issued share capital in three other companies—A Ltd, B Ltd and C Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • Limited Liability: a Pathway for Corporate Recklessness?
    LIMITED LIABILITY: A PATHWAY FOR CORPORATE RECKLESSNESS? Igho Lordson Dabor PhD SEPTEMBER 2016 LIMITED LIABILITY: A PATHWAY FOR CORPORATE RECKLESSNESS? By Igho Lordson Dabor A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September, 2016 Faculty of Social Sciences University of Wolverhampton Law School This work or any part therefore has not previously been presented in any form to the University or any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for any other purposes (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgements, references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of this work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person. The right of Igho Lordson Dabor to be identified as author of this work is asserted in accordance with ss.77 and 78 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. At this date, the author owns copyright. Signature: …………………………………………… Igho Lordson Dabor Date: …………………………………………………. Dedication DEDICATION I dedicate this work first of all to the Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, who has been my rock, my strength, and my salvation and to my lovely wife Mrs Adefolawe Yetunde Dabor and our lovely and wonderful children Joshua Omoyode Dabor, and Esther Avwerosuoghene Dabor. Dedication i Acknowledgement ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I extend my gratitude to the almighty God who gave me the grace, and ability to complete this work. I also extend my gratitude to all in the University Of Wolverhampton Law School who provided a fantastic environment in which to work and learn.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Huddersfield Repository
    University of Huddersfield Repository Mendelsohn, James Still "the unyielding rock"? A critical assessment of the ongoing importance of Salomon V Salomon & Co LTD[1897] AC 22 in the light of selected English company law cases Original Citation Mendelsohn, James (2012) Still "the unyielding rock"? A critical assessment of the ongoing importance of Salomon V Salomon & Co LTD[1897] AC 22 in the light of selected English company law cases. Masters thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/23331/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ STILL ―THE UNYIELDING ROCK?‖ A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE ONGOING IMPORTANCE OF SALOMON V SALOMON & CO LTD [1897] AC 22 IN THE LIGHT
    [Show full text]
  • December 2013
    Index January – December 2013 CONTENTS Subject Index 2 UK Statutes 26 Statutory Instruments 28 International Legislation 29 Law Reports 32 Table of Cases 34 Author Index 52 Book and Online Reviews 56 Glossary 56 2 SUBJECT INDEX www.newlawjournal.co.uk | January – December Index 2013 | New Law Journal Numbers in bold refer to issue use of ADR to resolve landlord and how courts deal with question of costs numbers, followed by page numbers tenant disputes (ADR) 7573:21 where an arbitration award is being CAS refers to the who pays the mediator (judicial line) 7557:19 challenged 7554:14–15 Charities Appeals Supplement America jurisdiction of High Court under American Bar Association and external Arbitration Act 1969 (law digest) 7565:29 ownership of law firms (comment) 7588:8 local court is free to impose its own A American Bar Association to permit procedural conditions (law digest) 7583:17 foreign lawyers to practise as in- negative aspect of a London arbitration abuse of process house counsel 7549:182 (law digest) 7565:29 former wife’s claim was abuse of process 7560:4 animals points needed to succeed under s.68 access to justice dangerous dogs and destruction orders Arbitration Act 1996 (law digest) 7581:29 access to justice debate (comment) 7543:7 (law digest) 7588:21 seat of arbitration sufficiently indicated age anti-social behaviour by the country chosen as the place former partner in law firm loses age proposals in new legislation to of arbitration (law digest) 7550:237 discrimination claim 7563:4 introduce statutory injunctions
    [Show full text]
  • 645KB***Revisiting the Alter Ego Exception in Corporate Veil Piercing
    (2015) 27 SAcLJ Alter Ego Exception in Corporate Veil Piercing 177 REVISITING THE ALTER EGO EXCEPTION IN CORPORATE VEIL PIERCING The seminal decision of the UK Supreme Court in Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd [2013] 3 WLR 1 (“Prest”) has clarified the law on corporate veil piercing by (a) jettisoning vague phrases such as “justice of the case” and metaphors such as “sham” or “façade” that had hitherto characterised English jurisprudence in this area; and (b) re-categorising earlier English cases under two underlying principles – the concealment principle and the evasion principle. In the aftermath of Prest, the question that ought to be raised in Singapore is whether the local jurisprudence on corporate veil piercing should likewise be re-examined since the earlier Singapore cases have also relied heavily on metaphors and platitudinous phrases; in particular, there is a need to confront the problem of apparently inconsistent judicial statements that seem to categorise the alter ego doctrine as a separate ground for corporate veil piercing. To the extent that this is so, the post-Prest English position and the Singapore position as set out in the decision of the Court of Appeal in Alwie Handoyo v Tjong Very Sumito [2013] 4 SLR 308 (which did not have the opportunity to consider the decision in Prest) appear to be divergent. This article discusses four alternative ways that this perceived inconsistency may be resolved. Moving forward, it is suggested that metaphors such as “sham” or “façade” be eschewed and the principled approach espoused in Prest be adopted instead. YEO Hwee Ying* LLB (Singapore), LLM (London); Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.
    [Show full text]
  • Piercing the Corporate Veil: an Analysis of Lord Sumption's Attempt to Avail a Troubled Doctrine
    114 Auckland University Law Review Vol 21 (2015) Piercing the Corporate Veil: An Analysis of Lord Sumption's Attempt to Avail a Troubled Doctrine NUPUR UPADHYAY* The principle that a company is a separate legal person is fundamental to modern company law. Over time, case law has emerged supporting the doctrine of "piercing the corporateveil ", enabling courts to look behind a company's separate legal personality to impose the company's liabilities on its controllers or vice versa. The doctrine, however, has been applied inconsistently and incoherently. In 2013, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd confirmed the existence of the doctrine and attempted to clarify it. In doing so, the leading judgment of Lord Sumption proposeda novel formulation to determine the circumstances in which a court can pierce the corporate veil. Lord Sumption's formulation creates its own confusion and uncertainty. This article argues that the Supreme Court should have abandoned the doctrine altogether. Alternative legal remedies available to claimants render the doctrine redundant. Moreover, Prest exacerbates the doctrine's lack of clarity. This, in turn, compromises the certainty afforded to commercial actors by virtue of incorporatinga company. I INTRODUCTION The limited liability corporation is the greatest single discovery of modern times... Even steam and electricity are far less important than the limited liability corporation. The strength of the limited liability company lies in the fact that commercial actors can be certain that, if a dispute arises, the company's separate legal personality will be recognised. The House of Lords articulated this principle in the seminal case of Salomon v A Salomon and Co Ltd.2 In New Zealand, the principle has been codified in s 15 of the Companies Act 1993.
    [Show full text]
  • Judging Corporate Law II May 31St 2013 University of Pennsylvania
    Judging Corporate Law II May 31st 2013 University of Pennsylvania Law School Organized and moderated by John Armour (Oxford) and Edward Rock (Penn Law) 9.00 am Registration and Coffee 9.30 am Welcome PROFESSOR MICHAEL A. FITTS Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School 9.45am Capital Structure I: Legal Capital: What are the constraints on redemption of redeemable shares? How are these constraints imposed, and to what extent may parties modify them by contract? How are questions of valuation of corporate assets approached for the purposes of applicability of these constraints? Barclays Bank plc v British & Commonwealth Holdings plc [1996] 1 BCLC 1 SV Investment Partners LLC v Thoughtworks Inc, (Del. 2011) CHIEF JUSTICE STEELE MR JUSTICE HILDYARD Delaware Supreme Court High Court, Chancery Division 10.45am Capital Structure II: Exchange Offers: What degree of coercion, if any, is it permissible to introduce into an exchange offer to bondholders, in order to overcome hold-out objections? How do/should courts review such offers? Katz v Oak Industries, Inc, 508 A.2d 873 (Del. Ch. 1986) Asseìnagon Asset Management SA v Irish Bank Resolution Corp [2012] EWHC 2090 (Ch), [2013] 1 All ER 495 MR JUSTICE BRIGGS CHANCELLOR STRINE High Court, Chancery Division Delaware Court of Chancery 11.45pm Coffee 12.00pm Piercing the Corporate Veil: What is understood by “piercing the corporate veil”? Is there a judicial power to do this in appropriate circumstances? If so, what do such circumstances look like? Midland Interiors Inc v Burleigh 2006 WL 3783476 (Del. Ch.
    [Show full text]
  • Parent Company Liability for Torts of Subsidiaries
    Department of Law Spring Term 2020 Master’s Thesis in Company Law 30 ECTS Parent Company Liability for Torts of Subsidiaries A Comparative Study of Swedish and UK Company Law with Emphasis on PierCing the Corporate Veil and ImpliCations for ViCtims of Torts and Human Rights Violations Author: Matilda Lindblad Supervisor: Professor Daniel Stattin 2 Acknowledgements It is quite difficult to apprehend, that this era has come to an end. Four and a half years of law studies are done, can I call this a home run? When the world is upside down, I stand in my mental graduation gown. In the midst of a shift we are, business as usual – au revoir. To me this clearly motivates, discussions on liability in company groups and the business and human rights debate. I thank my friends and family for listening to my endless thesis-related discussions, despite it causing them minor concussions. Caroline, Rebecka, Emma, Eva, Maia, Clara, Henrietta, Mom, Dad, Amanda, Oscar. Without your support, I would have failed in this thesis-writing sport. I thank my colleagues at the Embassy of Sweden in Manila, for making my internship everything but dull and vanilla. I thank my supervisor Professor Daniel Stattin for helping me on the right track, with invaluable feedback. I thank the University of Glasgow for a semester of rain, and an introduction to the UK company law domain. Finally, I thank Uppsala University for providing me with an excellent education, when I am rich and famous I will make a generous donation. Uppsala, July 2020 3 4 Abstract The gas leak disaster in Bhopal, India, in 1984 illustrates a situation of catastrophe and mass torts resulting in loss of life and health as well as environmental degradation.
    [Show full text]
  • Veils, Frauds, and Fast Cars
    VEILS, FRAUDS, AND FAST CARS LOOKING BEYOND THE FIXATION ON PIERCING TO THE ILLUSORY PROTECTION PROVIDED BY INCORPORATION Natasha Danielle Paxton Smith A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Bachelor of Laws (Honours) at the University of Otago, Dunedin October 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Struan Scott for his endless guidance, encouragement and motivation throughout the year. It has been a privilege to have him as my supervisor. I would also like to thank my friends and flatmates for their support and camaraderie and for making my five years at Otago so memorable. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their undivided love and support. i “Things gained through unjust fraud are never secure” Sophocles (497-406 BC) ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 PART ONE: THE FIXATION ON PIERCING THE CORPORATE VEIL CHAPTER ONE: THE ISSUE OF ABUSE IN “ONE PERSON COMPANIES” 4 A Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4 B Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd is the “unyielding rock” ........................................ 4 C Concerns of “one person companies” ......................................................................... 6 1 What is a “one person company”? ........................................................................... 6 2 Specific concerns ....................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • JUDGMENT Prest (Appellant) V Petrodel Resources Limited and Others
    Trinity Term [2013] UKSC 34 On appeal from: [2012] EWCA Civ 1395 JUDGMENT Prest (Appellant) v Petrodel Resources Limited and others (Respondents) before Lord Neuberger, President Lord Walker Lady Hale Lord Mance Lord Clarke Lord Wilson Lord Sumption JUDGMENT GIVEN ON 12 June 2013 Heard on 5 and 6 March 2013 Appellant Respondent Richard Todd QC Tim Amos QC Daniel Lightman Oliver Wise Stephen Trowell Ben Shaw Amy Kisser (Instructed by Farrer & (Instructed by Jeffrey Co) Green Russell Ltd) LORD SUMPTION Introduction 1. This appeal arises out of proceedings for ancillary relief following a divorce. The principal parties before the judge, Moylan J, were Michael and Yasmin Prest. He was born in Nigeria and she in England. Both have dual Nigerian and British nationality. They were married in 1993, and during the marriage the matrimonial home was in England, although the husband was found by the judge to have been resident in Monaco from about 2001 to date. There was also a second home in Nevis. The wife petitioned for divorce in March 2008. A decree nisi was pronounced in December 2008, and a decree absolute in November 2011. 2. The husband is not party to the appeal in point of form, although he is present in spirit. The appeal concerns only the position of a number of companies belonging to the group known as the Petrodel Group which the judge found to be wholly owned and controlled (directly or through intermediate entities) by the husband. There were originally seven companies involved, all of which were joined as additional respondents to the wife’s application for ancillary relief.
    [Show full text]
  • VTB Capital Plc (Appellant) V Nutritek International Corp and Others (Respondents)
    Hilary Term [2013] UKSC 5 On appeal from: [2012] EWCA Civ 808 JUDGMENT VTB Capital plc (Appellant) v Nutritek International Corp and others (Respondents) before Lord Neuberger, President Lord Mance Lord Clarke Lord Wilson Lord Reed JUDGMENT GIVEN ON 6 February 2013 Heard on 12, 13 and 14 November 2012 Appellant 2nd Respondent Mark Howard QC Michael Lazarus Paul McGrath QC Christopher Burdin Iain Pester Tony Singla (Instructed by Herbert (Instructed by SJ Berwin Smith Freehills LLP) LLP (up to 1st December 2012) and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (London) LLP (from 1st December 2012)) 4th Respondent Mark Hapgood QC Stephen Rubin QC James McClelland (Instructed by by SJ Berwin LLP (up to 1st December 2012) and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (London) LLP (from 1st December 2012)) LORD MANCE Introduction 1. The appellant, VTB Capital plc (“VTB”), is incorporated and registered, and authorised and regulated as a bank, in England. It is majority-owned by JSC VTB Bank (“VTB Moscow”), a state-owned bank based in Moscow. The first, second and fourth respondents are, respectively, Nutritek International Corp (“Nutritek”), Marshall Capital Holdings Ltd (“Marcap BVI”), both British Virgin Islands companies, and Mr Konstantin Malofeev, a Russian businessman resident in Moscow said to be the ultimate owner and controller of both, as well as of the third respondent, Marshall Capital LLC (“Marcap Moscow”), a Russian company which has not been served. 2. The present case arises from a Facility Agreement dated 23 November 2007 (“the Facility Agreement”) entered into between VTB and a Russian company, Russagroprom LLC (“RAP”), under which VTB advanced some US$225,050,000 to RAP.
    [Show full text]
  • Why the Supreme Court Decision in Prest V Petrodel Resources Ltd Leads Us Nowhere Author: Adam Liew Source: the King’S Student Law Review, Vol
    The King’s Student Law Review Title: Three Steps Forward, Three Steps Back: Why the Supreme Court decision in Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd leads us nowhere Author: Adam Liew Source: The King’s Student Law Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Winter 2014), pp. 67-82 Published by: King’s College London on behalf of The King’s Student Law Review All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature, without the prior, express written permission of the King’s Student Law Review. Within the UK, exceptions are allowed in respect of any fair dealing for the purpose of research of private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act,1988. Enquiries concerning reproducing outside these terms and in other countries should be sent to the Editor in Chief. KSLR is an independent, not-for-profit, online academic publication managed by students of the King’s College London School of Law. The Review seeks to publish high-quality legal scholarship written by undergraduate and graduate students at King’s and other leading law schools across the globe. For more information about KSLR, please visit our website: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/law/about/review.aspx ©King’s Student Law Review 2014 THREE STEPS FORWARD, THREE STEPS BACK: WHY THE SUPREME COURT DECISION IN PREST V PETRODEL RESOURCES LTD LEADS US NOWHERE Adam Liew* The recent Supreme Court decision of Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd and Others (‘Prest’) has been celebrated by many as much-needed clarification to a fundamental area of English company law – corporate veil piercing.
    [Show full text]