The challenge of corporate law enforcement: future directions for corporations law in Australia

Much progress has been achieved in modernising Australian corporations law statutes over the last half century. However, much less has been achieved in enforcing or implementing corporations laws. Whilst Australia clearly does have its distinctive corporate law features that distinguish its governance arrangements from the usual Anglo-American models, it also has a large number of common features that it shares with other developed countries. Probably the most important of these are the background business culture, ethical values and legal institutions against which corporate laws operate; these are the most important ingredients in ensuring the effectiveness and enforcement of such laws. With increasing globalisation and the contraction of the role of the state in economic markets, the nature of modernity and the role of law have changed significantly since the enactment of the first broadly based company laws of the mid-nineteenth century