Protecting the rights of stock market investors in the form of class action lawsuits

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Private Law, Mofd University- University Lecturer and Legal Consultant of Iran's ‎Capital Market, Qom, Iran‎

2 Department of Private Law- University Lecturer and Attorney at law, Qom, Iran‎

Abstract

Although the institutional features have identified the capital market as one of the potential fields for group lawsuits, there is no comprehensive approach to the possibility of enforcing the rights of investors in the capital market through a collective lawsuit. In the legal system of Iran, part of this uncertainty is caused by the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code, and the other part is due to the lack of clarity on the part of the capital market legislator. In addition to these, there are no well-established procedures regarding this matter. Regardless of these issues, the approaches of some countries and the existence of professional attributes, formalism in the activities of the securities market, support through the supervision of relevant authorities, the existence of judicial institutions, specialized prosecution and investigation, and the justifiability of objections to this establishment provide acceptable grounds to justify the protection of the rights of securities market investors in the form of a collective lawsuit. Also, necessities such as protecting the interests of small shareholders as consumers of the capital market, the possibility of combining civil responsibility with disciplinary or criminal responsibilities, and the approach to dealing with violations of laws and regulations are other elements that make class action a valuable and low-cost mechanism for protecting the rights of market beneficiaries—especially for fulfilling the goals specified in Article 2 of the Capital Market Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Comparative Law Review
Volume 16, Issue 1 - Serial Number 31
Spring & Summer 2025
June 2025
Pages 241-262

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