Cutting the Gordian Knot of corporate law: Revisiting veil piercing in corporate groups

Abstract

Veil piercing within corporate groups is an area of corporate law that continues to confound and confuse. Many consider it an area full of 'hard cases making bad law' to such an extent that it simply defies principled analysis. This article undertakes an investigation of the principled roots of veil piercing within corporate groups and challenges the perceived utility of an agency analysis. The authors argue that the purported agency principles used in veil piercing cases are in reality something different from legal principles of agency.