British Virgin Islands company law Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Corporate personality== {{See also|Corporate personhood|Piercing the corporate veil}} In the British Virgin Islands a company has separate legal personality from its members (unlike, for example, a partnership registered under the Partnership Act, 1996). The liability of the members of a company is limited to their [[share (finance)|shares]] or the amount of their guarantee.<ref>BVI Business Companies Act, section 80</ref> Similarly, [[Board of directors|directors]] or officers of a company are not normally liable for the company's debts except insofar as they may otherwise be liable for their own conduct or actions.<ref>BVI Business Companies Act, section 30</ref> The primary circumstances where liability may be imposed upon directors in relation to their acts as directors are (1) where the company has no members, (2) where a person acts as a director despite being disqualified, (3) where the director authorises payment of an unlawful distribution which cannot be recovered, (4) where the director is guilty of [[insolvent trading|trading whilst insolvent]], misfeasance or fraudulent trading, or (5) where the director undertakes personal responsibility or liability for certain actions.<ref>''[[Williams v Natural Life Health Foods Ltd]]'' [1998] UKHL 17</ref> Conversely, the assets of a company are regarded as belonging solely to the company and not the company's members. In exception circumstances the courts are prepared to "pierce the corporate veil" and treat the assets of the company as belonging to the members (or, conversely, treat the company's obligations as the obligations of the members), but the circumstances in which this will be done are rare and exceptional.<ref>''[[Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd]]'' [2013] UKSC 34</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page