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V - The United Kingdom

The Meteoric Rise and Gradual Fall of Unfair Prejudice

from Part 2 - Operation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2022

Alan K Koh
Affiliation:
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
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Summary

Chapter V turns to the UK, whose withdrawal remedy has served as the model for similar remedies across the Anglo-Commonwealth. While the ‘unfair prejudice’ remedy was initially a great success that spawned a rapidly developing jurisprudence, the perception of an explosion in shareholder litigation in the courts and mushrooming costs against the backdrop of ongoing civil justice system reforms caused serious backlash in the 1990s. On the judicial front, Lord Hoffmann’s seminal speech in O’Neill v Phillips effectively became the last word on unfair prejudice. Contemporaneously, law reform attempts aimed at addressing the perceived problems of unfair prejudice ultimately led nowhere. The meteoric rise and gradual fall of the unfair prejudice remedy in the UK is a cautionary tale of the power of judges to obstruct, of how one decisive voice prevailed over many divided against themselves, and of the limits of legislative reform in close corporation law.

Type
Chapter
Information
Shareholder Protection in Close Corporations
Theory, Operation, and Application of Shareholder Withdrawal
, pp. 128 - 171
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • The United Kingdom
  • Alan K Koh, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Book: Shareholder Protection in Close Corporations
  • Online publication: 14 October 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108634618.006
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  • The United Kingdom
  • Alan K Koh, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Book: Shareholder Protection in Close Corporations
  • Online publication: 14 October 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108634618.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The United Kingdom
  • Alan K Koh, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Book: Shareholder Protection in Close Corporations
  • Online publication: 14 October 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108634618.006
Available formats
×