ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a theory of ‘corporate office’ that understands the exercise of corporate power as constitutively vicarious – always exercised on behalf of another – and, therefore, never fully reducible or attributable to a particular agent or actor. This constitutive vicariousness gives rise to a structural irresponsibility at the core of the corporate form, which the attempts to impose corporate responsibility consistently come up against. This is because, when acting on behalf of a corporation, an individual's personal responsibility is separated from the ultimate effects of the actions taken, emphasising instead the fulfilment of the duties and requirements of the role or office to be performed.
