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37 Dalhousie L.J. 345 (2014)
Anglo-American Directors' Legal Duties and CSR: Prohibited, Permitted or Prescribed

handle is hein.journals/dalholwj37 and id is 351 raw text is: 





Benedict Sheehy* and
Donald Feaver**


Anglo-American Directors' Legal
Duties and CSR: Prohibited, Permitted
or Prescribed?


The interaction between corporate social responsibility (CSR) obligations
and directors' legal duties is underexamined. This article addresses that void
by examining directors' duties in case law and legislation across the major
commonwealth countries and the U.S.A. It provides an analysis of leading cases
and examines how they deal with directors' duties, the doctrine of shareholder
primacy, corporate legal theory and CSR. The article reviews fiduciary relations
and duties and analyzes the directors'duties to exercise power in the best interests
of the company as a whole and for proper purposes. The article concludes that
CSR is well within the accepted range of directors' duties and, in some instances,
mandates.

L'interaction entre les obligations et Ia responsabilit6 sociale des entreprises
(RSE) et les devoirs 16gaux des administrateurs n'est pas examinee d'assez
pres. L'article tente de combler cette lacune en etudiant les devoirs des
administrateurs definis dans la jurisprudence et dans les lois des plus importants
pays du Commonwealth et des Etats-Unis. L'auteur analyse des arr6ts importants
et examine la fagon dont les devoirs des administrateurs sont trait6s, le principe
de la primauts des actionnaires, la theorie juridique concernant les soci~t6s et la
RSE. II passe en revue les relations et les devoirs fiduciaires et analyse le devoir
des administrateurs d'exercer le pouvoir dans I'intPrt superieur de la Societ6
dans son ensemble et . des fins approprides. En conclusion, il affirme que la RSE
fait bel et bien partie des devoirs et des obligations acceptes des administrateurs
et, dans certains cas, de leurs mandats.




















*   Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia.
** Professor, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

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