Skip to main content
Article
The BCE Decision: Reflections on the Firm as a Contractual Organization
Comparative Research in Law & Political Economy
  • Peer Zumbansen, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
  • S. B. Archer
Research Paper Number
17/2008
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2008
Keywords
  • Contracts,
  • Corporate theory,
  • Legal Pluralism,
  • nexus-of-contracts,
  • relational contract theory,
  • shareholder primacy,
  • stakeholder theory of the corporation,
  • takeovers,
  • Transnational law
Abstract

The authors discuss the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to approve a plan of arrangement privatizing BCE Inc. over the objections of bondholders. Summarizing the arguments for "shareholder primacy" and debenture covenants delimiting contractual rights against boards and management, they argue that an expanded conception of relational contract theory is useful in analyzing the competing claims in the BCE deal and litigation. This approach requires that broader contextual factors are necessary to consider in the functioning of the corporation, especially by after-the-fact decision-makers.

Citation Information
Peer Zumbansen and S. B. Archer. "The BCE Decision: Reflections on the Firm as a Contractual Organization" (2008)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/peer_zumbansen/105/