the courts sometimes refuse to apply the doctrine of separate legal personality. Yet, it is easy to overestimate the importance of this topic. There was a time when the courts were very receptive to arguments urging them to ignore the separate legal personality of a company. That era is believed to be over and courts have in recent years adopted a much stricter approach to suggested departures from the separate personality doctrine. This essay shall discuss the doctrine of separate legal entity in reasonable detail and address the issue of whether the courts are willing to apply the doctrine of separate legal personality by distinguishing the company from its owners or rather reluctant to do so and instead opt to 'lift the corporate veil' so as to make one the company with its owner and whether that is justified.