In 2002 the executives of CSX, a freight railway company whose origins lay in the early 1800s, received unexpected news: The company was being sued in a federal district court in New York as part of a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of all living descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

The lawsuit, which also included FleetBoston Financial (now part of Bank of America) and Aetna, sought unspecified damages, compensation for unpaid forced labor, and a portion of the profits resulting from that labor. The plaintiffs cited CSX’s use of enslaved people to construct its railways, FleetBoston’s connection to an earlier bank founded by a man who owned ships that transported enslaved people, and an Aetna predecessor’s practice of “[insuring] slave owners against the loss of their human chattel.”

The accusations were all accurate, and they raised an important legal and moral question: Should a long-established company be required to atone for the atrocities of a bygone era? John W. Snow, then the chairman and CEO of CSX (who later served as secretary of the treasury under George W. Bush), thought not. The company issued a statement arguing that although slavery was tragic, the case was “wholly without merit.” A spokesperson, Kathleen A. Burns, chastised the plaintiffs for trying to hold today’s employees and shareholders accountable for ills more than a century old. The court dismissed the case without addressing the merits of the claim, arguing that the plaintiffs could not prove their direct personal connection to those affected.

Legally, the judge’s decision was unsurprising. U.S. courts tend to rule against plaintiffs seeking reparations from corporations for historical crimes, and the International Criminal Court does not try cases involving corporations. But the legal and reputational risks to companies from their long-past activities are growing, as large portions of society push for what they see as an overdue reckoning. Schools are being renamed, mascots are being discarded, and statues of historical figures that only a few years ago barely drew a glance are being toppled. Businesses face scrutiny over the origins of wealth and how they may have exploited people to enable their current profitability. Social media makes it easy for activists to publicize criticism, organize boycotts, and take other actions.

Ultimately, law follows public opinion, and legislatures are unlikely to keep laws on the books that ignore this moral turn. In a comprehensive study of corporate accountability claims for mass atrocities around the world, Oxford University’s Leigh Payne and colleagues found that although legal impunity prevails, calls for atonement from growing portions of civil society are likely to change the landscape in the coming years.