Qualified minority rights under the Companies Act, 1995

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to throw some light on the concept of qualified minority rights under our law and the problems relating thereto. An attempt has been made to limit the discussion to the said qualified minority rights without unnecessarily diverting discussion to other aspects of minority protection such as the notion of "unfair prejudice" now embodied in Section 402 of the Maltese Companies Act, 1995, which in fact has been specifically excluded from the ambit of this dissertation. The thesis distinguishes between qualified minority rights and individual member rights and deals, "en passant", with the position as found under the Commercial Partnerships Ordinance, 1962 as well as the position now obtaining under the Maltese Companies Act, 1995. Due to the fact that out law is heavily influenced by the law found in the United Kingdom, a considerable emphasis has been made to UK law. An attempt has, however, also been made to comment on the qualified minority rights present in foreign jurisdictions, comparing them to those sections dealing with qualified minority rights in the Companies Act, 1995. A chapter has also been devoted to other qualified minority rights present in foreign jurisdictions some of which might well be considered for any future amendment or addition to the Companies Act, 1995.