University of Illinois Legal Working Paper Series
University of Illinois Law and Economics Working Papers
Are Partners Fiduciaries?
Article comments
Forthcoming in the University of Illinois Law Review, Volume 2005, Issue 1 - February, 2005
Abstract
The proliferation of partnership-type entities raises many questions about how the traditional rules of business entities will be tailored for these new contexts. This includes questions concerning default fiduciary duties in partnership-type firms. In particular, should fiduciary duties apply to manager-owners as well as to managers in firms with passive owners? In contrast to Justice Cardozo's famous dictum in Meinhard v. Salmon, Professor Ribstein concludes that partners, as such, are not fiduciaries because they do not delegate open-ended control to their co-partners. Extending fiduciary relationships beyond this specific situation would increase litigation and contracting costs, decrease the effectiveness of owners' governance rights, and dilute true fiduciaries' legal and extralegal incentives.
Subject Area
Law and Economics
Recommended Citation
Larry E. Ribstein,
"Are Partners Fiduciaries?"
(September 2004).
University of Illinois Legal Working Paper Series.
University of Illinois Law and Economics Working Papers.
Working Paper 10.
http://law.bepress.com/uiuclwps/papers/art10
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