What is the legal term for a court disregarding a corporation's separate legal entity?

The legal term for a court disregarding a corporation’s separate legal entity is piercing the corporate veil.

Corporations are ordinarily treated as separate legal persons. They own property, enter contracts, incur debts, and bear liability independently of their shareholders, directors, and parent companies. Piercing the corporate veil is an exceptional remedy in which a court looks past that separation and holds shareholders or related entities responsible for corporate obligations.

Courts may consider factors such as domination, inadequate capitalization, failure to observe corporate formalities, commingling of assets, fraud, or using the company as a mere instrumentality. The precise test varies by jurisdiction, and courts are generally reluctant to impose personal liability merely because a company is closely held or owned by one person.

The doctrine is associated with the separate-personality principle affirmed in Salomon v A. Salomon & Co. Ltd., decided by the House of Lords in 1897. “Lifting the veil” is a common synonym. Quantum meruit concerns reasonable compensation, ultra vires concerns acts beyond an entity’s powers, and respondeat superior concerns an employer’s vicarious liability for an employee’s acts.