Corporate Law Research Guide
Corporate law deals with the laws and regulations that govern corporations, companies and bodies corporate. It defines its formation, governance and structure as well as the rights, duties and powers of its officers. This research guide is created to help researchers find the relevant materials needed for their work in this subject area especially at the Osgoode Hall Law School Library. Developments in the last 10 years have given corporate law significant attention internationally ranging form emerging economies, collapse of communism, and development of capitalist economies in former communist countries to corporate scandals. In preparing this guide I have attempted to cover extensively Canada, United States, United Kingdom and some other international jurisdictions.
Keywords: Corporations law, Company law, Corporate law, Corporations
CANADA
Primary Sources
Statutes
Case Law
Secondary Sources
Books
Journals
Databases
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Current Awareness
UNITED KINGDOM
INTERNATIONAL
In Canada, the federal and provincial governments have the power to create and regulate corporations. The following are the relevant federal and provincial statutes:
Federal
Canada Business Corporations Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-44
Alberta
Business Corporations Act (Alta.), R.S.A 2000, c. B-9.
British Columbia
Business Corporations Act, SBC 2002, c. 57.
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/B/02057_00.htm
Manitoba
The Corporations Act, C.C.S.M, c. C225.
New Brunswick
Business Corporations Act, S.N.B. 1981, c. B-9.1
Corporations Act, R.S.N.B. 1973, c. C-24
Newfoundland and Labrador
Corporations Act, R.S.N.L. 1990, c. C-36
Northwest Territories
Business Corporations Act, S.N.W.T. 1996, c. 19
Nova Scotia
Companies Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 81
Nunavut
Business Corporations Act, S.N.W.T. 1996, c. 19
Ontario
Business Corporations Act (Ont.) RSO 1990, c. B.16.
Prince Edward Island
Companies Act, R.S.P.E.I. 1988, c. C-14
Quebec
Companies Act, R.S.Q. c. C-38 (Available in French and English)
Saskatchewan
Business Corporations Act, R.S.S. 1978, c. B-10
Yukon Territory
Business Corporations Act, R.S.Y. 2002, c. 20
The full text versions of these statutes are available in CANLII (except British Columbia), CCH Online, LexisNexis/Quicklaw and WestlaweCarswell for law students and faculty.
The annual Consolidated Canada Business Corporations Act and Regulations 2008 KF 1415ZA2 C37322 2008 is an update of the CBCA, amendments, proposed amendments together with any policy statements from Corporations Canada.
Case law on corporate law can be found in all major law reports such as the Dominion Law Reports, Business Law Reports and also in CANLII, CCH Online, LexisNexis/Quicklaw, and WestlaweCarswell.
Robert Yalden & Mary Condon, Business Organizations: Principles, Policies and Practice (Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications Limited, 2008). KF 1355 B885 2008
Bruce Welling, Corporate Law in Canada: The Governing Principles, 3rd ed. (Queensland, Australia: Scribblers Publishing, 2006).KF1415 ZA2 W42 2006
Christopher. C. Nicholls, Corporate Law (Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications Limited, 2005). KF1415 ZA2 N52 2004
H. Sutherland, Fraser’s Handbook on Canadian Company Law, 8th ed., (Toronto: Carswell, 1994) KF 1415 ZA 2 F7 1994
Paul Martel, Business Corporations in Canada: Legal and Practical Aspects (Toronto: Thomson/Carswell, 2004). KF 1415 ZA2 M286
Robert A. Kingston, Canada Corporation Manual (Toronto: Carswell, 1965). KF 1415 ZA2 C3739
Stephen Adams, Federal and Ontario Corporate and Business Legislation (Aurora, ON: Canada Law Books, 1998). KF1415 ZB3 F38
Wayne D. Gray, The annotated Canada Business Corporations Act: and the following related statutes, Corporations Returns Act, Investment Canada Act, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 2002). KF 1415 ZA2 C357 2008
Bruce Welling, Lionel Smith & Leonard Rotman, Canadian corporate law: cases, notes & materials, 2nd ed. (Markham, Ont.: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2006). KF 1415 ZA2 C383 2006
Leslie McCallum & Poonam Puri Canadian Companies Guide to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Markham, Ont.: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2004). KF 1446 M33 2004
J. Anthony VanDuzer The law of partnerships and corporations (Toronto, Ont.: Irwin Law, 2003). ELECTRONIC (Ebook) KF 1355 V36 2003
Most law reviews publish articles on corporate law but the following is a major Canadian title for corporate law:
Canadian Business Law Journal, PER C1686
In conducting your research for articles, you can start with the following indices which will give you access to full text or abstracts:
- Index to Canadian Legal Literature (ICLL) Available in LexisNexis/Quicklaw and WestlaweCarswell
- Legaltrac
They can be accessed through eResources on the library homepage or by going to the Research Databases – Law page.
Corporate law is also a multidisciplinary field and so you are able to research for articles and materials in social sciences and other multidisciplinary databases available in the York University Libraries or Research Databases – Multidisciplinary page. The following databases are the major ones:
- Business Source Premier
- ABI/INFORM Global
- ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry
- Associations Canada
- CBCA Complete
- Factiva
- Financial Post Advisor
- Mergent Online
- Scholars Portal
- SEDAR
- SourceOECD
- Web of Science
Note that you require authentication when accessing remotely.
Internet Resources
Corporations Canada This is the government department that is responsible for the administration of the Canada Business Corporations Act and other regulations related to corporations.
In the United States, each of the 50 states regulates how a corporation is incorporated and structured. The Cornell Legal Information Institute has prepared a very useful guide with links to all legislation (Federal Codes, State laws on incorporation, some decided Federal and State decisions - Wex – Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute.
Books
The Law Library has a number of books on corporations covering the United States.
Jeffrey Bauman et al, Corporations law and policy: materials and problems, (St. Paul MN: Thomson West, 2007). KF1413 S63 2007
Sanjay Anand, Essentials of Sarbanes-Oxley, (Hoboken, N.J. John Wiley & Sons, 2007). KF 1446 A31 A83 2007
Lawrence. E Mitchell & Michael Diamond, Corporations, a contemporary approach: cases and materials for a course in corporate law, (Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic Press, 2004). KF 1413 M58 2004
Robert W. Hamilton., Law of Corporations in a Nutshell (St Paul, Minn.: West Group, 2000). KF 1414.3 H35 2000
Journals
Heinonline is the major legal database that the library subscribes to. This database contains the following American titles covering corporate law:
Brooklyn Journal of Corporate Financial & Commercial Law
- Business Law International
- Business Law Journal
- Business Lawyer (ABA)
- Corporate Business Taxation Monthly
- Corporate Governance Law Review
- Delaware Journal of Corporate Law
- European Company and Financial Law Review
- Fordham Journal of Corporate and Financial Journal
- Hastings Business Law Journal
- Journal of Corporate Law Studies
Blogs
Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Blog – Sponsored by the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance.
In the UK, a corporation is referred to as a company. Companies are regulated, structured and governed by the provisions of the Companies Act 2006.
Primary Sources
Statutes/Legislation
Companies Act 2006 – United Kingdom Statute Law Database
BAILII - British and Irish Legal Information Institute.
Case Law
England & Wales High Court (Commercial Court) Decisions – British and Irish Legal Information Institute.
Secondary Sources
Books
Paul L. Davies, Sarah Worthington & Eva Micheler Gower and Davies’ Principles of Modern Company Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2003). KF1415 ZC2 G68 2008
Brenda Hannigan and Daniel Prentice, Hannigan and Prentice: the companies act 2006 (eds)( London: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2007). KF 1415 ZC2 H36 2007
Journals
Journal of Business Law
Internet Resources
Companies House – The organization responsible for the incorporation and dissolving of limited companies in the United Kingdom.
Current Awareness
Blogs
Corporate Law and Governance – A blog managed by Robert Goddard, Lecturer in Law at Aston Business School in Birmingham. It covers legal developments, case commentaries and related news items.
Note that in many international jurisdictions the corporation is referred to as company.
Australia
Statutes/Legislation
Case Law
AUSTLII
Secondary Sources
James F. Corkery and Bruce Welling Principles of corporate law in Australia (Mudgeeraba, Old: Scribblers Publishing, 2008). KF 1415 ZD2 C665 200
Julie A. Cassidy Concise corporations law (Annandale, NSW : Federation Press, 2006). KF 1415 ZD2 C37 2006
Julie A. Cassidy Corporations law: text and essential cases (Sydney : Federation Press, 2005). KF 1415 ZD2 C374 2005
H.A.J. Ford, R.P. Austin, I.M. Ramsay Ford’s principles of corporations law (Chatswood, NSW: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2005). KF 1415 ZD2 F67 2005
Journals
Australasian Legal Scholarship Library
AGIS Plus Text (Available through Law Library eResources page)
China
Statute
Company Law of the People’s Republic of China (2005) – This can accessed from ChinaLawInfo through Research Databases – Law.
India
Statute
Companies Act 1956 – Note that this is a free site and can be removed anytime
Case Law
Indian case law is available through Manupatra listed on the Law Library eResources page.
Jamaica
Statute
South Africa
Statute
South Africa Companies Act 61 of 1973
Compiled by Yemisi Dina
Last updated on June, 2009
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