72
Such a statutory claim against the directors would, of course,
be without prejudice to any other claim for breach of fiduciary duty
or misfeasance.
In certain cases some shareholders may also have a
remedy under S. 168A."
14.5 In view of the widespread criticism of the proposal, Government
withdrew the clause; it did not appear in the subsequent Companies (Amendment)
Bill 1983 which was a revised version of the 1980 White Paper.
14.6 We decided that before reaching any conclusions on this
subject we would like the up-to-date views of the professional and
business organisations usually consulted on these matters. The
Secretary of the Standing Committee wrote to them accordingly and
when all the replies have been received we will consider them
carefully.
14.7
We have also noted that, in Britain, the Report of
Dr. Dan Prentice of Oxford University who was appointed in December 1985
"to conduct a study into the legal and commercial implication of the
proposed abolition of the ultra vires rule as it applies to registered
companies" has been published. We are sure that Dr. Prentice's proposals
will also be of the greatest interest and help when me take up the
subject again.