Australian Company Law covers a very broad range of topics and Australia has some of the strictest company regulation in the world. The Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) is the most important piece of legislation which covers the operation of companies in Australia. The associated Corporations Regulations are also very important and define many of the details of the operation of companies under the system of Australian Company Law even down to the form of the documents that are used for a creditor’s statutory demand and other similar documents. The company law in Australia is enforced by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission which is a very large federal government office that is well resourced. Changes to the policies which leas to the formation of Australian Company Law are handled usually by the Department of Treasury.

Some the topics covered by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) include the formation of companies, the administrative details of how they are to run and the appointment of directors, their responsibilities, how they are to resign and their conduct in relation to the operation of the company. The Act also defines what the law is in relation to shareholders and how a company is controlled given the relationships between different shareholders. For instance, if a company is owned to a very great extent by one individual, the majority shareholder may be able to force a takeover of the entire company. Also, minority shareholders can sometime obtain relief on the basis of fraud on the minority which is a concept that permeates Australian Company law both through regulation and through case law. There is also a substantial body of company law which has been adopted through the development of case law. For instance, the famous Solomon’s case about the difference between a company and person in legal identity is still considered relevant in defining this concept in Australian law. If you have any questions about Australian Company Law, please do not hesitate to contact us using any of the contact methods available on this site.