How the transparency of the moral personality of a company impact the English law: Cases of lifting the veil.

Index

The predominance of higher interest to explain the lifting of corporate veil 3
The recognition of certain economic realities 7 The transparency of legal personality in the company's relationship with the outside world. 8 Transparency in relations between shareholders 10
Conclusion 11
BIBLIOGRAPHY 14 Books 14 Articles 14 Legislation 14 Other Written Sources 15

One of the key rights in modern law is the notion of separate personality of the company. In English law, the principle of a separate personality between the company and its members is called corporate veil, it found his essence in the famous case of Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd[1]. Mr. Solomon had converted his business into a company and the new shareholders were members of his family, who were only nominee. The House of Lords agreed that the company had a separate legal personality. This judgment is the foundment of companies’ personality and is considered as jurisprudence. This principle is rarely contested; nevertheless legislator had chosen to make some distinctions.

Indeed, in certain circumstances, and in order to take into account a different reality, they are determined to lift the corporate veil[2]. Sometimes there is total transparency, where the legal entity is completely ignored and only the shareholders are taken into account, is for example the case when a parent company is held liable for the debts of its subsidiary, whose the separate personality is considered purely apparent. Sometimes, the veil is only lifted to submit other rules or obligations to the company than those which would normally apply.

The authors have sometimes tried to classify the situations in which the corporate veil personality is often raised, but these attempts have only highlighted the heterogeneity of transparency cases. The fact remains that the separation of entities