Piercing of the corporate veil in terms of Gore: Section 20(9) of the new Companies Act 17 of 2008
type: CreativeWork
description: The first part of this minor dissertation will examine the historical development of the common law doctrine of piercing the corporate veil, its status and the concerns raised against the rule. In light of the fact that veil piercing erodes the limited liability of a company, it is necessary to appreciate both the relevance and the significance of separate legal personality and the historical development of the doctrine that carves out exceptions to limited liability in this context. The concept of separate legal personality goes hand in hand with the doctrine of veil piercing. This part will further illustrate the various approaches that courts have taken in deciding whether or not to pierce the corporate veil. A criticism of the doctrine is that it comes with no clear guidelines directing courts to the appropriate circumstances for piercing the corporate veil. It will be argued that the courts have relied invariably on a number of discrete, unrelated categories of conduct upon which to base decisions to disregard the corporate personality of a company, but this approach in the end is unsatisfactory. The concept of corporate personality will be discussed in this part in order to achieve a better understanding of the concept itself and to shed some light on the legal nature of the corporate personality. Furthermore, this part will examine recent trends in foreign law in regard to the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil that may serve as guidelines to the interpretation and the application of the doctrine in South African law. Particularly, the English judicial approach to piercing the corporate veil will be discussed. This in turn will lead to a consideration of the question whether further development is necessary, and if so, which direction is best suited for South African company law. The second part of this dissertation will discuss the rules of interpretation, the basic approaches to statutory interpretation followed by our courts and which approach has enj…
abstract: The first part of this minor dissertation will examine the historical development of the common law doctrine of piercing the corporate veil, its status and the concerns raised against the rule. In light of the fact that veil piercing erodes the limited liability of a company, it is necessary to appreciate both the relevance and the significance of separate legal personality and the historical development of the doctrine that carves out exceptions to limited liability in this context. The concept of separate legal personality goes hand in hand with the doctrine of veil piercing. This part will further illustrate the various approaches that courts have taken in deciding whether or not to pierce the corporate veil. A criticism of the doctrine is that it comes with no clear guidelines directing courts to the appropriate circumstances for piercing the corporate veil. It will be argued that the courts have relied invariably on a number of discrete, unrelated categories of conduct upon which to base decisions to disregard the corporate personality of a company, but this approach in the end is unsatisfactory. The concept of corporate personality will be discussed in this part in order to achieve a better understanding of the concept itself and to shed some light on the legal nature of the corporate personality. Furthermore, this part will examine recent trends in foreign law in regard to the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil that may serve as guidelines to the interpretation and the application of the doctrine in South African law. Particularly, the English judicial approach to piercing the corporate veil will be discussed. This in turn will lead to a consideration of the question whether further development is necessary, and if so, which direction is best suited for South African company law. The second part of this dissertation will discuss the rules of interpretation, the basic approaches to statutory interpretation followed by our courts and which approach has enj…
author: Zindoga, Washington Tawanda
language: eng
date published: 2015
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:17Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Commercial Law

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16923