Social Investing and the Lessons of South Africa Divestment: Rethinking the Limitations on Fiduciary Discretion

Part I of this Article defines social investing and briefly reviews the South Africa divestment movement which has brought questions about the legality of social investing to the fore. Part II comments upon existing statutory and common law limitations on the discretion of trustee-investors to adopt policies of social investing. Part III analyzes the empirical research on the extent to which preclusion of a set of investment opportunities may impair the performance of a typical trustee-investor\u27s portfolio, both with respect to rate of return and risk. Part IV explores the implications of the empirical evidence analyzed in Part III for the legal standards surveyed in Part II. We conclude that it is neither necessary nor appropriate to apply the legal standards limiting fiduciary discretion so as to prohibit social investing strategies no more restrictive than one requiring divestment of all stocks held in any company doing business in South Africa

“It’s Just Not Right”: The Ethics of Insider Trading

The Supreme Court doctrine defining insider trading and a competing theory called the misappropriation theory are criticized, focusing on the case of United States vs Chestman. A counter-argument is presented

1878-03-07

The Old Commonwealth was a weekly newspaper published in Harrisonburg, Va., between 1865 and 1884

1878-03-21

The Old Commonwealth was a weekly newspaper published in Harrisonburg, Va., between 1865 and 1884

1878-03-14

The Old Commonwealth was a weekly newspaper published in Harrisonburg, Va., between 1865 and 1884

1878-03-28

The Old Commonwealth was a weekly newspaper published in Harrisonburg, Va., between 1865 and 1884