The Political Legitimacy of Company Law and Regulation

Attenborough, D.

The Political Legitimacy of Company Law and Regulation

Attenborough, D.

Authors

Professor Daniel Attenborough daniel.attenborough@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Two interrelated objectives are pursued in this article: the first concerns the relationship and interaction between the UK’s company law and market-based regulation; the second explores the legitimacy of marketbased regulation in light of its potential to mould and influence the substantive law. Although the article finds that the two systems retain carefully defined, essentially consistent and mutually complementary roles, it submits that market-based formations run the risk of not readily or plausibly lending themselves to dominant political and democratic accounts, which are deployed customarily to substantiate the legitimacy of state interventionist techniques. Simultaneously, the deployment of a rival conception of legitimacy, conceived as technocratic expertise and market consensus and conformity, is problematic for a number of theoretical and practical reasons. This has implications for the effects and outcomes of the UK’s company law and governance.

Citation

Attenborough, D. (2020). The Political Legitimacy of Company Law and Regulation. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 71(1), 384-405

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 26, 2019
Online Publication Date	Jan 13, 2020
Publication Date	Jan 13, 2020
Deposit Date	Nov 26, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Jan 24, 2020
Journal	Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly
Print ISSN	0029-3105
Publisher	School of Law
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	71
Issue	1
Pages	384-405
Publisher URL	https://nilq.qub.ac.uk/index.php/nilq/article/view/305