The road to Prest v Petrodel: an analysis of the UK judicial approach to The Corporate Veil - part 1

This article examines the common law approach to the doctrine of separate legal personality in UK Corporate Law, its origin, development and the challenges encountered by judges in the interpretation and application of this doctrine. The article also analyses the grounds/circumstances upon which this doctrine may be disregarded by the judges to ‘lift/pierce’ the corporate veil. The article then analyses the judicial interpretative approaches to dichotomies and metaphors, such as ‘concealment/evasion’ and ‘shame/façade’ et cetera. The conclusion explores whether the UKSC decision in Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd has, indeed, provided much needed clarity in the common law approach to the corporate veil.

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in International company and commercial law review following peer review. The definitive published version Los Watkins and Hamiisi Junior Nsubuga, I.C.C.L.R. 2020, 31(10), 547-558 is available online on Westlaw UK. An Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC use license applies to this manuscript version.