Does the Corporations Power Extend to Re-Constituting the Corporation

This article considers the essence and nature of the corporate form, in order to examine the boundaries of a constitutional power to regulate corporations already formed. The question is of theoretical interest: we consider the ontology of the corporation and the inconclusive debate over whether bodies such as the board of directors or shareholders in general meeting are organs or agents of the corporation. It is also of practical interest in any federal system, such as Australia, which gives power over incorporation to one level (eg States) but empowers the central government to regulate corporations. Does that regulatory power extend to ‘reconstituting' existing corporations, eg by altering the shape or gender mix of its governing bodies?