Maralack, Lawrence-John2024-06-252024-06-252023Maralack, Lawrence-John. (2023). The concept of separate legal personality in company law and its impact on the governance of company groups [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38748https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38748A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws by Coursework and Research Report at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023This research focuses on the concept of separate legal personality as it applies to company groups. This research analyses the phenomenon that the separate legal personality of subsidiaries within these company groups enables them to act in breach of good corporate governance norms. This is due to the fact that accountability may be avoided by the holding company in a group through the practice of ‘judgement proofing.’ This research proposes that a more progressive consideration of the remedy of piercing the corporate veil as well as finding alternatives to veil piercing can be used to ensure that the entity theory does not enable corporate malfeasance (as seen in the case of Milieudefensie vs Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited). It is argued that this will promote better corporate governance within company groupsen© 2023 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Legal personalityCompany lawCompany governanceUCTDSDG-8: Decent work and economic growthDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg