Thesis Abstract and Dissertation Abstracts

Public Corporations

Thesis Abstract by Etienne Calleja from Malta Date Submitted: Oct 22, 2003, 05:23 Doctor of Laws, Malta, 2003

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Dissertation Keywords: corporation, quangos, taxation, ad hoc institutions, accountability, privatisation, distinct legal personality

This Thesis Abstract | Dissertation Abstract may be cited as follows:
Calleja, E. (2003),Public Corporations Legislation, Unpublished Doctor of Laws Long Essay,University of Malta

Thesis Abstract or Dissertation Abstract (Summary):
Generally speaking any corporation is “a body corporate established by law” . Foreign authors, and some local ones, have written on the nature of the public corporation in an attempt to define what type of creature this body is. Public corporations are often termed as quangos or quasi-autonomous national governmental organisations. They normally stem from an activity that is initially a government concern, in the form of a department, which then eventually develops into an industry. In this sense, they become too large and complicated to remain a governmental department, yet serve a public interest of such importance, that central government does not desire to lose entire control over the establishment. The corporation, as the name itself implies, is a body, a grouping, into which certain responsibilities and obligations, are vested within it.

The fact that it is an institution is self-evident, but significantly so because evidently government departments “shade off into bodies auxiliary to, but not integral parts of central government…if only because they have been set-up by Government and Parliament ad hoc” . The break from central government must have arisen due to some particular reason. The bulwark and myriad of functions they perform cannot solely be a justifiable reason for this. Indeed government itself can become quite complex in its day-to-day administration of public life, and definitely no public corporation can possibly supersede the size of an administrative body such as this. Hence this measure of semi-privatisation is necessary, in order to allow greater flexibility and the implementation of managerial skills that are more adequately directed towards the industry within which a particular public corporation is operating. More precisely, a move such as this provides a “combination of vigorous and efficient business management with an appropriate measure of public control and accountability…since civil service methods, treasury control and complete accountability to Parliament were considered unsuited to the successful running of a large industry” .

The distinct legal personality acquired by the public corporation, from the incipient moments of its existence is such that it is capable of “entering into contracts, of acquiring, holding and disposing of any kind of property or rights…of suing and being sued and entering into all such transactions” , something which is both technically and legally impossible for a government department to do. This personality arises from the fact that it is a separate entity from the government per se. In any case a government department would not exercise these rights in the name of the government department, but in the name, and on behalf of, central government.

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