Introduction

This chapter provides short summary of the development and current state of corporate governance in the UK and other significant jurisdictions. It aims to put the developments in context so that, even though the explanations are brief, they can be appreciated, understood and critically applied. If it is to be effective, corporate governance has to be more than an unthinking compliance to a recitation of statutes, regulations and principles, devoid of context. Too often corporate governance is seen as the product of a list of reports and a later battery of laws which sprang into being in 1992 with the Cadbury Report.