BETWEEN CITIZEN AND STATE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CORPORATION

by David A. Westbrook
University at Buffalo Law School
Floyd H. & Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar & Professor

 

Reviews

“A lyrical description of the basic issues of corporation law. His book sets forth in a clear and easily digested manner the fundamental concerns which animate the dynamics of corporate law. At the same time, his exegesis of the "black letter" law is informed, and enhanced, by a thorough understanding of the current theoretical frameworks for thinking about corporations. His text will be a boon to law students and others interested in how the law enables and constrains corporations to act in the world.”

Brandon Becker
Co-chair of the Securities Regulation Department,
WilmerHale and former Director of the Division of Market Regulation
at the SEC
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"The profound mind at work in these pages tests thin convention with thick critique, analysis so bracing that one wonders whether we can handle, as a practical matter, the complex cross-currents it untangles. Reading this penetrating meditation on the political sociology of corporate constructions seems imperative; whether we can come to grips with its blinding illumination is another question."

Lawrence A. Cunningham
Professor of Law, George Washington University
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"'Between Citizen and State' is a wonderfully written book that provides fresh insights into the law of corporations. While the text is anchored in the US legal tradition, it offers valuable lessons for law students and scholars in company law in the UK, the European Union and other parts of the world. The metaphor of the theater, used brilliantly by the author, is most fitting in the study of this legal fiction, the corporation, which is at the core of a free capitalist society."

Rosa M. Lastra
Professor of International Financial and Monetary Law Centre for Commmercial Law Studies
Queen Mary, University of London

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"'In this brilliant and original book David Westbrook makes visible the diverse logics that organize actors even in settings, such as the corporation, where we might assume one single such logic. We can recognize this in a play. But the language of the law tends to flatten its own subject. In this author's hands, corporate law reveals its logical complexity."

Saskia Sassen
Columbia University
Author of "Territory, Authority, Rights"

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“"The original virtual person, centuries old, the corporation is nonetheless the quintessential post-modern actor. Westbrook’s charming, yes charming, introduction to the corporation offers everything you ever wanted to know about this legal fiction in concise, readable, yet erudite prose. An absolute must for law students, Between Citizen and State, is a compelling read for citizens and entrepreneurs, as well as scholars.”

Susan Silbey
Department Head
Professor of Sociology and Anthropology,
M.I.T.