Enforcing Corporate Social Responsibility Codes: On Global Self-Regulation and National Private Law

Corporate social responsibility codes are guidelines that companies voluntarily develop and publish with the objective to show the public their commitment to respect human rights, to improve fundamental workplace standards worldwide and to not pollute the natural environment.

These corporate codes have become a crucial element in the regulatory architecture for globally operating companies. By focusing on the characteristics of the codes, their effects on society, and their legal consequences, this book seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of corporate codes and the law.

Enforcing Corporate Social Responsibility Codes develops proposals on the relation between global corporate self-regulation and the national private law systems. It uses methods of comparative law and sociological jurisprudence to argue that national private law can, and in fact should, enforce these codes as genuine legal obligations. The author formulates legal policy recommendations for English and German private law which indicate how the proposed legal enforcement could be practically realised.