The Reform of Misstatement Liability in Australia's Prospectus Laws

Abstract

This dissertation considers the reforms made to the liability rules in Australia�s prospectus laws during the 1990s. It traces the rewrite of the fundraising provisions at the end of the 1980s as part of the new Corporations Law through to the rewrite of those provisions at the end of the 1990s as part of the CLERP Act initiative. As the law in this area is not particularly well served by detailed judicial or academic analysis in Australia, the dissertation seeks to define the scope of the Australian liability regime by reference to case law analysis, a review of relevant theoretical considerations and comparative analysis with other key jurisdictions. The thesis of the dissertation is that many of the reforms were, particularly initially, misconceived in key respects because of a failure to apply appropriate theoretical underpinnings and to take account of the lessons that could have been learned from a comparative analysis with other key jurisdictions.