Doreen Lustig
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198822097
- eISBN:
- 9780191861185
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198822097.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Private International Law
Chapter 4 explores how various conceptions of the Nazi totalitarian state influenced the findings and prosecutions of the Industrialist Trials at Nuremberg conducted against key officials in the ...
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Chapter 4 explores how various conceptions of the Nazi totalitarian state influenced the findings and prosecutions of the Industrialist Trials at Nuremberg conducted against key officials in the Flick, Krupp, and I.G. Farben companies. The chapter considers the influence of the Frankfurt School and Franz Neumann’s theory of the Nazi state as Behemoth on the prosecution’s innovative theory of the Nazi regime. The tribunals’ legal reasoning rejected Neumann’s theory of Behemoth and insisted instead on a link being established with state authority, influence, or control as a basis for the responsibility of corporate officials. The chapter analyses the shortcomings of the tribunals’ approach in meeting the normative challenge of the Industrialist Trials, namely to develop principles for establishing responsibilities among businesspersons operating as such. Furthermore, it reveals how the tribunals’ conceptions of the corporate veil of the state, the company, and the relation between them served as a shield against individual responsibility.Less
Chapter 4 explores how various conceptions of the Nazi totalitarian state influenced the findings and prosecutions of the Industrialist Trials at Nuremberg conducted against key officials in the Flick, Krupp, and I.G. Farben companies. The chapter considers the influence of the Frankfurt School and Franz Neumann’s theory of the Nazi state as Behemoth on the prosecution’s innovative theory of the Nazi regime. The tribunals’ legal reasoning rejected Neumann’s theory of Behemoth and insisted instead on a link being established with state authority, influence, or control as a basis for the responsibility of corporate officials. The chapter analyses the shortcomings of the tribunals’ approach in meeting the normative challenge of the Industrialist Trials, namely to develop principles for establishing responsibilities among businesspersons operating as such. Furthermore, it reveals how the tribunals’ conceptions of the corporate veil of the state, the company, and the relation between them served as a shield against individual responsibility.
Doreen Lustig
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198822097
- eISBN:
- 9780191861185
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198822097.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Private International Law
Chapter 5 analyses the possible influence of competing conceptions of the corporate structure of authority, its ethos, and popular perceptions as a possible explanation to the treatment of corporate ...
More
Chapter 5 analyses the possible influence of competing conceptions of the corporate structure of authority, its ethos, and popular perceptions as a possible explanation to the treatment of corporate officials in the industrialist trials. The chapter draws inspiration from Max Weber’s typology of legitimate authority and analyses how the bureaucratic features of the Farben enterprise, the association of the Krupp officials with the tradition of German militarism, and the persona of the charismatic Friedrich Flick all contributed to their ascriptions of legitimacy and scope of their recognized responsibility. Furthermore, it analyses how conceiving the structure of authority of the German companies primarily as monopolies or cartels served to delegitimize them and thus justify harsh legal measures against them. The chapter develops a critique on the decision not to engage with a rigorous analysis of corporate structures of authority in the Industrialist Trials as part of the legal reasoning required to establish the responsibility of corporate officials in international law.Less
Chapter 5 analyses the possible influence of competing conceptions of the corporate structure of authority, its ethos, and popular perceptions as a possible explanation to the treatment of corporate officials in the industrialist trials. The chapter draws inspiration from Max Weber’s typology of legitimate authority and analyses how the bureaucratic features of the Farben enterprise, the association of the Krupp officials with the tradition of German militarism, and the persona of the charismatic Friedrich Flick all contributed to their ascriptions of legitimacy and scope of their recognized responsibility. Furthermore, it analyses how conceiving the structure of authority of the German companies primarily as monopolies or cartels served to delegitimize them and thus justify harsh legal measures against them. The chapter develops a critique on the decision not to engage with a rigorous analysis of corporate structures of authority in the Industrialist Trials as part of the legal reasoning required to establish the responsibility of corporate officials in international law.
Doreen Lustig
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- July 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198822097
- eISBN:
- 9780191861185
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198822097.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Private International Law
This book presents a historical study of the international law of the private business corporation. The literature on corporations and international law typically concentrates on the failure to ...
More
This book presents a historical study of the international law of the private business corporation. The literature on corporations and international law typically concentrates on the failure to regulate corporations. This book challenges this ‘failure’ narrative and presents an alternative historical reading: a history of its facilitative role in constituting an economic order. This study draws inspiration from scholarship on the history of international trade law, international investment law, the history of global governance, and political economic analysis of international law, and connects these specialized fields in a single lens: the corporate form. The point of departure for this history is the simultaneous emergence of international law as a modern legal discipline and the turn to free incorporation in corporate law during the last third of the nineteenth century. The book demonstrates how the sovereign veil of the state and the corporate veil of the company were applied in tandem to insulate corporations from responsibility. Nevertheless, less powerful states invoked the same prevailing conceptions of the corporation, the sovereign state, and the relation between them, to curtail corporate power in struggles associated with decolonization. Reacting to these early victories, capital exporting countries shifted to a vocabulary of human rights and protected companies under a new regime of international investment law, which entrenched the separation between market and politics.Less
This book presents a historical study of the international law of the private business corporation. The literature on corporations and international law typically concentrates on the failure to regulate corporations. This book challenges this ‘failure’ narrative and presents an alternative historical reading: a history of its facilitative role in constituting an economic order. This study draws inspiration from scholarship on the history of international trade law, international investment law, the history of global governance, and political economic analysis of international law, and connects these specialized fields in a single lens: the corporate form. The point of departure for this history is the simultaneous emergence of international law as a modern legal discipline and the turn to free incorporation in corporate law during the last third of the nineteenth century. The book demonstrates how the sovereign veil of the state and the corporate veil of the company were applied in tandem to insulate corporations from responsibility. Nevertheless, less powerful states invoked the same prevailing conceptions of the corporation, the sovereign state, and the relation between them, to curtail corporate power in struggles associated with decolonization. Reacting to these early victories, capital exporting countries shifted to a vocabulary of human rights and protected companies under a new regime of international investment law, which entrenched the separation between market and politics.