The 6th edition of Keane on Company Law is now live as part of our Irish Company and Commercial Law service.
The new edition by Brian Hutchinson includes updated text around Brexit, covid measures, Companies (Statutory Audits) Act 2018 and the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017, alongside analysis of recent case law relating to directors' duties, company charges, liability of parent companies for subsidiaries, restriction and disqualification of directors and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
Read Brian's preface to the new edition below.
'The eight years that have passed since the publication of the previous edition have witnessed changes that were, perhaps, unimaginable at that time – Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and global lockdown; the widespread promulgation of Artificial Intelligence tools; the Russian invasion of Ukraine; and the war between Israel and Hamas killing thousands of innocents. Such events stamp indelibly on humanity, society, commerce; and, to some extent, company law, whilst at the same placing it into grim perspective.
Nevertheless, company law has not stood still. Legislative changes in Irish Company Law during that time include the introduction of the Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP); the establishment of the Corporate Enforcement Agency as a standalone agency with enhanced powers; the implementation of the Preventive Restructuring Directive, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, to be followed soon by the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and the coming into force of the Gender Pay Gap Directive. The courts have not been idle either: the volume of caselaw on restriction and disqualification of directors, for example, has warranted a whole additional chapter in this edition. Some of the cases, too, have evidenced a welcome willingness on the part of the courts to sacrifice sacred cows: the UK Supreme Court, most recently, for example, having pared back the “reflective loss” principle to its bare essentials; and the Irish Supreme Court having ruled that corporate causes of action can legitimately be assigned to directors and shareholders who can then appear in court as lay advocates on the cause, despite the rule in Battle v Irish Art Promotion Centre Ltd [1969] IR 252 which prohibits anyone from acting as lay advocate for a company in court. It is reassuring to think that the courts (and the regulators for that matter) might not have lost sight of the fact that companies are no more than fictions; a set of agreements and rules behind which there are real human persons with lives, livelihoods, dependents and expectations.'
You can also listen to Brian discussing the 6th Edition with Dr Tom Courtney in the introductory episode of our In Company With Courtney podcast.
To purchase a subscription, organise a free trial or request a remote demonstration of Irish Company and Commercial Law or any of our online services, please email bpireland@bloomsbury.com
