In the American system of corporate governance, shareholders typically elect the company's board of directors on an annual basis.
One of the earliest uses of the term shareholder democracy is noted in Volume V of William Meade Fletcher's Cyclopedia of the Law of Private Corporations from 1931.
[4] These rights came as a result of the brothers' campaign against Transamerica Corporation in 1946, which led to SEC rulings in their favor that were later upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
[5] Commenting on the 1947 case SEC v. Transamerica, Lewis Gilbert wrote, "A corporation is run for the benefit of its shareholders and not that of its management.
[8] Dunlavy notes that corporations were originally governed on the basis of the one-vote-per-shareholder rule, similar to an egalitarian democracy.
[9] In November 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided new guidelines that made it easier for shareholders to submit proposals on environmental and social issues.