The Corporate Subjects project co-organized the conference The Nature of the Corporation in collaboration with the University of Auckland, Monash University, and the University of Edinburgh. The conference was held on 22–23 June 2026 at the Edinburgh Centre for Commercial Law in Edinburgh, Scotland.
During the conference, Mathias Hein Jessen presented his paper, The Relation Between the State and the Corporation in Capitalism.
Monday 22 June
12.00noon – 1.30pm
Welcome, Registration & Lunch
1.30pm – 2.00pm
Editorial Introduction
A (re-)introduction to the edited collection by its 5 editors:
Jonny Hardman
Steve Kourabas
Billie Lythberg
Christoph Van der Elst
Susan Watson
2.00-3.00pm
Volume 4: The Corporation as an Actor
Part 1
Chair: Jonny Hardman
Mihailis Diamantis
Corporate Virtue and Vice
Suryapratim Roy
I Consent, therefore I Am: Hypothetical and Constructive Consent of Companies to Criminal Acts of Climate Disobedience
Rafael Savva & Thomas Peck
Bridging the Divide: Addressing the Semantic Differences, but Common Goals, of Business and Human Rights and Corporate Governance
Johanna Hoekstra
The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: Understanding the Role of the Company in Business & Human Rights
3.00-3.30pm
Coffee
3.30-4.30pm
Volume 4: The Corporation as an Actor
Part 2
Chair: Billie Lythberg
Lynn Buckley
The Corporation as a Good Corporate Citizen: A Stakeholder Theory Perspective on the Corporation
Silvie Rohr (online)
Purpose-Driven Companies: Catalysts for Socio-Economic Change
John Wood
The Corporate Form from an Insolvency Law Perspective
Emilie Ghio
Beyond Failure: The Stigma of Insolvency and the Corporate Identity
4.30-5.00pm
Connecting the Dots… Reflections & Synthesis
5.00pm
Drinks Reception, Moot Court Room
7.15pm
Dinner, Howies Victoria Street
Tuesday 23 June
9.00am-9.30am
Welcome
9.30am-10.30am
Volume 5: The Corporation from Outside Law
Chair: Susan Watson
Richard Langlois
The Corporation as an Evolved Organizational Design
Mathias Hein Jessen
The relation between the state and the corporation in capitalism
Ellie Chapple
The CEO’s Influence on Corporate Personality
Billie Lythberg
Post-Colonial Perspectives on the Corporation
10.30am-10.45am
Coffee
10.45am-12.30pm
Volume 3: The Corporation from Adjacent Legal Fields
Chair: Jonny Hardman
Riccardo Rao
Benefit Reports and the CSRD: Effective Enforcement Tools?
Surbhi Kapur (online)
Imaginaries of Corporate Identity, Existence, and Ostensible Authority in pre-Incorporation Contracts: A Comparative Analysis
Youssef Stella & Elena Scali
BCorps
Morshed Mannan
The Antinomies of Autonomy: What DAOs can Learn from the Cooperative Experience
Grigoris Bacharis & John Kwan
‘Economic Reality’ over ‘Legal Form’: Corporate Personality and Undertaking Liability in EU and UK Competition and Digital Regulation Law
Aoife McPartland
Employees enforcing directors’ duties and understandings of the nature of the corporation: Cases from Ireland
David Cabrelli
Directors’ Duties: A Heterodox Perspective
12.30noon–1.15pm
Lunch
1.15pm-2.30pm
Volume 2: Core Aspects of the Corporate Form
Part 1:
Chair: Christoph Van der Elst
Irene-marie Esser
Corporate Purpose: From Concept to Practice
Min Yan
The Nature of the Corporation in China
Mieke Olaerts
The Nature of the Company from a Continental/Dutch Perspective
Bonheur Minzoto
The Nature of the Corporation in Africa
Harpreet Kaur
Corporate Democracy in India
2.30pm-4.00pm
Volume 2: Core Aspects of the Corporate Form
Part 2
Chair: Steve Kourabas
Longjie Lu
Sustainability through Standardised Corporate Governance
Pete Underwood
The Corporate Group
Christoph Van der Elst
Piercing the Veil of Stakeholder Engagement Practices in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Framework
Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci & Christina Sautter
The Incorporation Ritual
Dionysia Katelouzou
The Corporation as a Subject and Object of Investor Stewardship
Roseanne Russell
The Nature of a Legitimate and Sustainable Corporation
4.00pm-4.15pm
Coffee
4.00pm-5.00pm
Volume 1: Corporate Law & The Corporate Form
Chair: Billie Lythberg
Jonny Hardman
The State’s Role in Bounding the Nature of the Corporation
Susan Watson
Maitland on the Corporation
Duncan Wallace
Is the Corporation Natural or Artificial?
Steve Kourabas
The Twenty-First Century Public Corporation as a ‘Social Institution’
5.00pm-5.30pm
Final Reflections & Conclusion
5.30pm
Drinks Reception, Moot Court Room
7.30pm
Dinner