Industrializing English Law: Entrepreneurship and Business Organization, 1720-1844Between the passage of the Bubble Act in 1720 and the sweeping reforms of the General Incorporation Act of 1844, the legal framework of business organization in England remained remarkably stagnant despite the profound economic and structural changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution. Originally published in 2000, this book analyzes why this discrepancy occurred, especially when other nations of that time, whose economies were far less developed, were evolving more permissive laws of business organization. Employing extensive primary source archival material, Ron Harris shows how the institutional development of major forms of business organization - the business corporation, the partnership, the trust, the unincorporated joint-stock company - evolved and how English law finally took account of these developments. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Legal Framework | 14 |
Legal Conceptions of Group Association | 15 |
The Corporation | 16 |
The Partnership | 19 |
The Trust | 21 |
Features of Business Organizations | 22 |
Legal Personality Managerial Hierarchy and Limitation of Liability | 23 |
The Beneficiaries Perspective | 156 |
A Reappraisal | 158 |
The Unincorporated Company in Court Litigation | 159 |
The Obsoleteness of CommonLaw Account Action | 160 |
The Rise and Limitations of Equity Account | 162 |
The Crisis at the Court of Chancery | 163 |
Conclusion | 165 |
The Progress of the JointStock Organization | 168 |
Transferable JointStock Capital | 24 |
Court Jurisdiction | 25 |
Forms of Business Organization | 27 |
The General Partnership | 28 |
The Limited Partnership | 29 |
The QuasiJointStock Partnership | 31 |
The Regulated Corporation | 32 |
The JointStock Corporation | 33 |
The Nonbusiness and Nonprofit Organization | 36 |
BEFORE 1720 | 37 |
The Pre1720 Business Corporation | 39 |
The 1550s to the 1620s | 40 |
The 1620S to the 1680s | 46 |
The 1680s to 1720 | 53 |
The Bubble Act Its Passage and Its Effects | 60 |
Bubble Companies or National Debt | 61 |
Three Explanations for the Passage | 64 |
From Bill to Act | 65 |
The South Sea Company Lobby | 68 |
The AntiBubbles Lobby | 70 |
The Public and the Government | 71 |
A Turning Point? | 78 |
17211810 | 83 |
Two Distinct Paths of Organizational Development Transport and Insurance | 85 |
Transport | 86 |
The Organization of River Navigation Improvement | 90 |
The Coming of the JointStock Canal Corporations | 95 |
Insurance | 100 |
The 1720s to the 1750s | 102 |
The 1760s and the 1770s | 103 |
The 1790s and the 1800s | 106 |
The End Point | 107 |
The JointStock Business Corporation | 110 |
The Raising and Transferability of Joint Stock | 114 |
The Legal Nature of Corporate Shares | 117 |
The Stock Market | 118 |
Limited Liability | 127 |
Entry Barriers | 132 |
Trusts Partnerships and the Unincorporated Company | 137 |
The Appropriate Legal Framework | 139 |
The Lack of Legal Entity | 141 |
Continuity | 142 |
Liability | 143 |
Governance | 144 |
Statutory and Other Implications | 145 |
The Role of the Trust | 147 |
The Origins of the Trust | 148 |
The Strict Settlement Trust | 149 |
The Investment Trust | 150 |
The Unincorporated Company Trust | 152 |
The Trustees Perspective | 153 |
Circa 1740 | 170 |
Sectoral Survey | 173 |
Metal Industries | 177 |
Food Industries | 178 |
Utilities | 182 |
Banking | 183 |
Fisheries | 184 |
Sectors Outside the Realm of Common Law | 186 |
Mining | 190 |
CIRCA 1810 | 193 |
The Importance of the JointStock Organization in the Economy | 194 |
Concluding Remarks | 198 |
The Attitudes of the Business Community | 201 |
The Promoters of the New Companies and Their Foes | 202 |
The Conflict over the Old Monopolies | 203 |
Trade Monopolies and the East India Company | 204 |
The Marine Insurance Corporate Monopoly | 207 |
The Bank of England Monopoly | 211 |
Conclusion | 215 |
Booms and Crises | 216 |
The Boom of 1825 | 217 |
18261844 | 218 |
Hostility to Speculation in Shares | 223 |
The JointStock Company in Court | 230 |
The Judiciary | 231 |
The Revival of the Bubble Act | 235 |
18081812 | 236 |
Litigation During the Boom of 1825 | 241 |
The Reinvention of the Common Law | 245 |
The JointStock Company in Parliament | 250 |
The Rush on Parliament | 254 |
The Debates in Parliament | 256 |
Peter Moores Bubble Act Repeal Bill | 262 |
The Repeal of the Bubble Act | 265 |
18271841 | 268 |
Return to Incorporation by the Crown | 270 |
Limited Liability Partnership | 273 |
The Rise of the Concept of Registration | 274 |
The Select Committee of 1841 | 277 |
18411844 | 278 |
The Parliamentary Committee | 279 |
The Companies Act of 1844 and Its Significance | 282 |
Laissezfaire or Intervention? | 285 |
Conclusion | 287 |
The Rise and Decline of the Major Trading Corporations | 295 |
Capital of JointStock Companies circa 1810 | 297 |
Bibliography | 301 |
323 | |
325 | |
326 | |
Other editions - View all
Industrializing English Law: Entrepreneurship and Business Organization ... Ron Harris No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
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References to this book
Hamilton Unbound: Finance and the Creation of the American Republic Robert E. Wright No preview available - 2002 |
Insuring the Industrial Revolution: Fire Insurance in Great Britain, 1700-1850 Robin Pearson No preview available - 2004 |