The Nature of the Corporation

This event was by invitation only

The nature of the corporation had been debated for centuries across disciplines and subdisciplines. Fundamental questions of corporate law, such as how directors and shareholders should behave, and whether the corporation performed the function in society that it should, returned to this core question. We could not, ultimately, know how corporate governance should operate or the role of the corporation without a strong understanding of the corporation itself. Yet there were as many different viewpoints as there were commentators. At the event, we explored how these perspectives fitted together, providing intra- and interdisciplinary analysis.

This event was organised by Edinburgh Law School, the University of Auckland, Monash University, and Copenhagen Business School. It was connected to a five-volume interdisciplinary collection that explored the nature of the corporation from various different perspectives. Volume 1 discussed core corporate law theories of the corporate form; Volume 2 examined core aspects of the corporate form; Volume 3 looked at the corporation from adjacent legal fields, such as antitrust law and employment law. Volume 4 explored the corporation as an actor, and Volume 5 examined how the corporation was viewed from non-legal perspectives. The two-day event offered an opportunity to present advanced papers on these themes, act as discussants for papers, and present kernels of ideas.

📆 Conference details: 
Monday 22 - Tuesday 23 June 2026

📍 Conference Location: 
Edinburgh Law School, Old College, Edinburgh.