Oppression remedy

In corporate law in Commonwealth countries, an oppression remedy is a statutory right available to oppressed shareholders. It empowers the shareholders to bring an action against the corporation in which they own shares when the conduct of the company has an effect that is oppressive, unfairly prejudicial, or unfairly disregards the interests of a shareholder. It was introduced in response to Foss v Harbottle, which had held that where a company's actions were ratified by a majority of the shareholders, the courts will not generally interfere.

It has been widely copied in companies legislation throughout the Commonwealth, including:

• the Canada Business Corporations Act, and
• the Corporations Act 2001 of Australia
• the Companies Act 1993 of New Zealand
• the Companies Act, 2008 of South Africa
• the Companies Act of Singapore
• the Companies Act 1965 of Malaysia

The Companies Ordinance of Hong Kong also contains similar provisions.