The platform aims to enhance the understanding and application of corporate law across the US
The American Bar Association (ABA) Business Law Section's Corporate Laws Committee has recently launched the Model Business Corporation Act Resource Center.
This new digital platform is designed to provide comprehensive, public access to the Model Business Corporation Act (MBCA), enhancing the understanding and application of corporate law across the United States.
The MBCA, first introduced in 1950 and adopted by 36 states since, serves as a model body of statutory corporate law periodically updated to reflect the latest judicial decisions, legislative enactments, and other relevant developments in law and technology. The Resource Center offers the current version of the MBCA in downloadable and searchable formats, making it more accessible to legal professionals, academics, and legislators alike.
Steven M. Haas, chair of the Corporate Laws Committee and a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, highlighted the significance of the new resource center. "The Corporate Laws Committee of the ABA works hard to develop and maintain a modern, state-of-the-art corporate statute,” Haas stated. “The resource center is a valuable site for state bar committees, legislators, academics, and others working on state corporate statutes.”
The Resource Center is not just a repository for the text of the MBCA. It also features a variety of other materials, including a map displaying jurisdictions that have enacted the MBCA, an "Enactment Toolkit" to aid jurisdictions in adopting or updating their version of the MBCA or other statutory corporate laws, and historical and educational resources that provide a deeper understanding of the act.
Additional resources available on the site include a curated bibliography of law review articles discussing the MBCA since its inception nearly 75 years ago and various white papers produced by the committee. These documents aim to foster a greater understanding of the MBCA and encourage its consistent application across different jurisdictions.
According to the ABA, the MBCA covers critical areas such as the formation, governance, conduct and liability of directors, making it an indispensable tool for those engaged in establishing and managing business (stock) corporations. Furthermore, the ABA emphasized that the MBCA is particularly valuable in jurisdictions lacking a fully developed body of common law or the resources to stay current with emerging corporate law trends and developments due to its straightforward and prescriptive approach to statutory corporate law.
