Atomising corporate law: a battle cry for splitters

This chapter explores potential future research into the argumentation structure of corporate law. It does so through the prism of ‘lumpers’ and ‘splitters’, which originated in biology. This chapter argues that most debates within corporate law are inherently lumper in nature, and that the splitter narrative sometimes is lacking. It then gives examples of splitter narratives by exploring two planes of bifurcation - the doctrinal legal landscape and whether or not a company’s shares are listed. The chapter outlines how splitting narratives could be further advanced within corporate law, but concludes by arguing that we need to synthesise lumper and splitter narratives together to create a coherent understanding of corporate law.