Opinion ID: 2442278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Other Commentary

Text: The DGCL, from its initial enactment in 1899, has authorized Delaware corporations to stagger the terms of their boards of directors. [25] Although the statutory language has been amended from time to time, it has remained substantially the same over the past one hundred eleven years. As early as 1917, commentators understood that the staggered board provision contemplates three year director terms. In its 1917 pamphlet entitled Business Corporations Under the Laws of Delaware, the Corporation Trust Company commented: [Directors] can be divided into one, two or three classes, to serve one, two and three years, and at each annual meeting the directors are elected to serve for the term of three years, so that one class expires each year. They are elected annually by the stockholders. [26] This historical understanding that directors are elected to serve for the term of three years is significant. [27]