Business Law Library & Tracker
Shareholders & Company Control
Share rights, voting, minority protection, ownership changes and control.
Sources last reviewed 7 Sept 2026
Main law guides
158
Acts, regulations and codes worth reading first
Topics
60
Plain-English clusters
Published case explainers
98
Selected cases with a business lesson
Tracked updates
13
New, amended & reviewed
Plain-English explainers, not legal advice. Use the linked official source for section-level detail, and get advice for your situation.
Get legal helpMain laws
Companies Act 1993
1993 No 105
Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993
1993 No 4
Unit Titles Act 2010
2010 No 22
Co-operative Companies Act 1996
1996 No 24
Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act 2019
2019 No 29
Cases
Kea Investments Ltd v Wikeley
Cross-border structures and foreign judgments do not remove the need to verify the underlying contract, authority and litigation strategy. Businesses facing a...
St Arnaud Alpine Store 2019 Ltd v Labour Inspector
For business owners, the durable lesson is about exposure rather than legal technicalities. If payroll, hours, leave, breaks and records are not properly managed, a...
A Labour Inspector of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment v Prisha’s Hospitality (2017) Ltd T/A Royal Cambridge Indian Restaurant
Employers must strictly comply with minimum employment standards, including paying at least minimum wage, providing proper holiday and leave entitlements, and...
Yan v Mainzeal Property and Construction Ltd (in liquidation)
Directors of a group company need evidence that promised support is real, sufficient and available when required. Comfort from a shareholder or related company is...
Riki Scott Steen Walls v Ulsterman Holdings Limited (In Liquidation)
The practical lesson is direct. If you are served with court proceedings, especially by liquidators, do not wait for a second warning. In this case, the defendant...
David Charles Browne v David Ross Petterson as Liquidator of Polyethylene Pipe Systems Limited (in liq)
Read this case as a caution about timing, purpose and records. It is not a broad rule that every insider payment or shareholder security is invalid. The lesson is...
Sportzone Motorcycles Limited (in liquidation) and Motor Trade Finances Limited v Commerce Commission
The practical lesson from this case is to build each fee from the event that triggers it. If a fee is charged when a loan is set up, the business should be able to...
BFSL 2007 Ltd & Ors (In Liquidation) v Steigrad
If your business buys D&O or similar liability cover, do not assume the policy limit will be freely available both to defend the claim and to pay any eventual...
Commerce Commission v Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd
For ordinary businesses, the practical lesson is not about dairy valuation theory. It is about how regulated pricing and supply obligations work in real life. If...