Berle-Dodd Debate

The Berle-Dodd debate of the early 1930s, between specialists in corporation law, was the opening exchange in the still raging controversy about shareholder versus stakeholder views of the firm. This controversy concerns the primary purpose of the publicly owned corporation. Adolf A. Berle Jr. proposed that public policy should define a strict fiduciary duty for management. E. M. Dodd Jr. replied in favor of public policy safeguarding multiconstituency and community responsibilities. Dodd may be regarded as a forerunner of stakeholder and corporate social responsibility theories. The debate itself had an important impact on the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.