Fundamental Rights and the Legal Obligations of Business (Cambridge Studies in Constitutional Law)

Corporations can significantly affect the fundamental rights of individuals. This book investigates how to determine the substantive content of their obligations that emanate from these rights. In doing so, it addresses important conceptual issues surrounding fundamental rights. From an investigation of existing legal models, a clear structural similarity surfaces in how courts make decisions about corporate obligations. The book seeks to systematise, justify and develop this emergent 'multi-factoral approach' through examining key factors for determining the substantive content of corporate obligations. The book defends the use of the proportionality test for ascertaining corporations' negative obligations and outlines a novel seven-step test for determining their positive obligations. The book finally proposes legal and institutional reforms - on both the national and international levels - designed to enhance the quality of decision-making surrounding corporate obligations, and embed fundamental rights within the corporate structure and the minds of key decision-makers.

David Bilchitz is Professor of Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Law, University of Johannesburg, South Africa and Professor of Law, University of Reading, United Kingdom. He is also Director of the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and Vice-President of the International Association of Constitutional Law. He is the author of Poverty and Fundamental Rights: the Justification and Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights (2007) and has published extensively in the area of business and human rights.