US corporate boards frequently but misguidedly behave like Victorian parents. Shareholders who are seen but not heard are spoken of with affection; wilful ones are scolded like rowdy children. Corporate law encourages their attitude by limiting shareholders' control of directors supposed to represent them.

But plummeting stock prices are spurring normally docile shareholders to rebel. In a return to form after the Bush years, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has sided with shareholders by proposing to boost their ability to nominate directors – not a day too soon.

The rule change makes a dent in the current unhealthy cosiness in which executives sit on each other's boards, approve each other's pay and select their own successors. Many jurisdictions – the US more than most – keep shareholders near powerless in this process; at best they are graciously permitted to withhold support. Anyone wanting companies run by a self-serving, self-recruiting cabal could hardly improve on this incestuous system.