ABSTRACT
Traditional pigeonholes in law need not apply in deciphering a necessary and novel legal approach to CSR, especially in view of its core which is centred on the legitimacy of corporate power. The justification for this research can be found in the contestations about CSR’s meaning and value as well as the contestations about the role of law within CSR. This must then be set against a background of critical incidents that have shown corporate irresponsibility and raised doubts about the value of an undefined concept. Horrigan points out that:
A grand CSR is unfolding world-wide . . . this grand global CSR project remains a 21st century work-in-progress. Constructing tools for this grand CSR project at its highest levels of philosophical abstraction (e.g. theorising about corporate legitimacy) and collective effort (e.g. undertaking CSRsensitive law reform across jurisdictions) is as important as discovering what works on the ground to embed CSR within individual companies and industry sectors (e.g. integrating CSR within standards business models).2
