Business Persons
A Legal Theory of the Firm
Published on 29. August 2013
Book
Hardback
328 pages
978-0-19-967091-8 (ISBN)
Description
Business firms are ubiquitous in modern society, but an appreciation of how they are formed and for what purposes requires an understanding of their legal foundations. This book provides a scholarly and yet accessible introduction to the legal framework of modern business enterprises.
It explains the legal ideas that allow for the recognition of firms as organizational "persons" having social rights and responsibilities. Other foundational ideas include an overview of how the laws of agency, contracts, and property fit together to compose the organized "persons" known as business firms. The institutional legal theory of the firm developed embraces both a "bottom-up" perspective of business participants and a "top-down" rule-setting perspective of government.
Other chapters in the book discuss the features of limited liability and the boundaries of firms. A typology of different kinds of firms is presented ranging from entrepreneurial one-person start-ups to complex corporations, as well as new forms of hybrid social enterprises. Practical applications include contribution to the debates surrounding corporate executive compensation and political free-speech rights of corporations.
It explains the legal ideas that allow for the recognition of firms as organizational "persons" having social rights and responsibilities. Other foundational ideas include an overview of how the laws of agency, contracts, and property fit together to compose the organized "persons" known as business firms. The institutional legal theory of the firm developed embraces both a "bottom-up" perspective of business participants and a "top-down" rule-setting perspective of government.
Other chapters in the book discuss the features of limited liability and the boundaries of firms. A typology of different kinds of firms is presented ranging from entrepreneurial one-person start-ups to complex corporations, as well as new forms of hybrid social enterprises. Practical applications include contribution to the debates surrounding corporate executive compensation and political free-speech rights of corporations.
Reviews / Votes
Whereas recent decades of scholarship on the nature of the firm have stressed economic and finance theory, Orts frames the analysis as centrally about law and legal theory. The book employs an ethics-focused, multi-perspective approach and draws extensive parallels to the history and philosophy of law. It re-elevates the once-prominent roles of agency, contract, and property law and theory in asking and answering many of the classic questions about the firm [and] includes important insights into the modern taxonomy of firms and their shifting boundaries, as well as practical contributions to current policy debate ... Orts has been one of the leading voices advocating a more nuanced view of the firm, and he now delivers a thoroughly researched and foundational new book that is a must read for anyone thinking seriously about the theory of the modern firm. * Frank Partnoy, George E. Barrett Professor of Law and Finance, University of San Diego School of Law * In this comprehensive study, Eric Orts takes on the economists and shows why law is essential to our understanding of the business firm. Anyone who cares about the future of business should be grateful for this addition to the literature. * Lynn Sharp Paine, John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School * This book is a path-breaking analysis of the business firm from a legal perspective. As shown by the debate surrounding the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, the question of corporate legal personality has resurfaced as one of the key legal and political issues of our time. Prof. Orts' book is indispensable reading for anyone interested in exploring the extent to which "corporations are people too." * Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 167 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
648 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-967091-8 (9780199670918)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2013
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€29.99
Available for download
Person
Eric W. Orts is the Guardsmark Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a secondary appointment in Management. He is the faculty director of the Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership and a co-faculty director of the FINRA Institute at Wharton. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Leuven, the University of Michigan Law School, NYU School of Law, Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, the University of Sydney Law School, and UCLA School of Law. His research focuses on business theory, corporate law, ethics, and sustainability.
Content
Introduction - The Recognition and Boundaries of the Firm ; 1. Foundations of the Firm I: Business Entities and Legal Persons ; 2. Foundations of the Firm II: Agency, Contracts, and Property ; 3. The Public/Private Distinction: Two Faces of the Business Enterprise ; 4. Enterprise Liability, Business Participant Liability, and Limited Liability ; 5. The Nomenclature of Enterprise: A Taxonomy of Modern Business Firms ; 6. Managing and Regulating the Shifting Boundaries of the Firm ; 7. Two Applications ; Conclusion