Tackling vulnerabilities through corporate duties

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Zhao, J. ORCID: 0000-0001-6430-2356, 2024. Tackling vulnerabilities through corporate duties. Catholic University Law Review, 73 (1), pp. 121-153. ISSN 1530-6119

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Abstract

In this article, and drawing on the work of Fineman and others, we use a vulnerability lens as a device to emphasise the protection that could be offered to vulnerable parties in corporations through directors’ duties. By situating corporations in the vulnerability paradigm, we will discuss the limitations of formal equality and clarify the role played by corporate law. In a progressive manner, vulnerability theory mediates conflicts between calls for “regulatory state policies” and “individual responsibility” to supervise and monitor corporate actions by improving resilience in four kinds and two stages. We observe that vulnerability is universal in corporations, but priority should be given to the vulnerable parties with the highest dependency, whose identity varies depending on both internal and external contexts. The vulnerability paradigm, assisted by Goodin’s analysis of protecting the vulnerable, lays a solid theoretical base to explain directors’ duties towards vulnerable parties within the vulnerability matrix.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Catholic University Law Review

Creators:

Zhao, J.

Publisher:

Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America

Date:

2024

Volume:

Number: