LAWS 2252 ‑ Fiduciary Law in the Business Context

CREDIT HOURS: 3

A common complaint existing within the contemporary study of corporations is the loss of faith in corporate governance. There have been numerous allegations of improper conduct engaged in by corporate directors and officers and a series of high-profile convictions in recent years. What is the reason for these occurrences? A common thread observable in many of these scenarios is the abuse of power by persons holding fiduciary obligations to corporations.This course will facilitate understanding the fiduciary obligations of various persons in the corporate/commercial/business sphere. This will be accomplished by examining historical and theoretical rationales for the fiduciary obligation as well as by examining a number of relationships that have been found to be fiduciary in the jurisprudence. We will discuss why certain individuals ought, or ought not, be regarded as fiduciary, and investigate what describing someone as a fiduciary entails. This will be accomplished by focusing on matters including: (a) the purpose of fiduciary relations in contemporary society; (b) some of the various theories that animate fiduciary relations; (c) the implications of describing relationships as fiduciary; (d) the statutory incorporation of fiduciary obligations in corporate law statutes, and; (e) the various means of relief available for breaches of fiduciary obligation.

Prerequisite(s): None.
Co-requisite(s): None.
Assessment Method: Major Paper (85%),Topic Presentation & Class Participation (15%).
Restrictions: None.