The Origins Of Corporations

Fully modern corporations appeared in fourteenth-century Toulouse, much earlier than previously believed Germain Sicard proves that Europe's first corporations were fourteenth-century mill companies operating in Toulouse, rather than seventeenth-century English and Dutch trading companies as commonly believed. He shows that the corporate form derives from a unique ownership contract from Medieval Europe called pariage, and a culture of strong property rights and municipal self-governance. Based on archival research, Sicard's 1952 thesis has been translated into English with an introduction that places the work in the context of new institutional economics and legal theory. It is an important contribution to research on the history and legal origins of the corporation.

Understanding the corporation means understanding its legal framework, but until recently the origins and evolution of corporate law have received relatively little attention. The topical chapters featured in this Research Handbook, contributed by leading scholars from around the world, examine the historical development of corporation and business organization law in the Americas, Europe, and Asia from the ancient world to modern times, providing an invaluable resource for both further historical research and scholars seeking the origins of present-day issues.

This publication traces the corporate path to power and influence in the modern world, and explores whether corporations of the future will become superpowers in their own right or, like the dinosaurs, give way to superior forms. It examines how the emergence of empire-building firms in 16th century Europe gave way to the dominance of American corporations in the 19th and 20th centuries, which is now under threat as new types of corporations arise in China and elsewhere. The book offers surprising insights, such as why the explorer Sebastian Cabot incorporated while Christopher Columbus did not, how the US Constitution’s silence on corporations gave rise to America’s industrial dominance, and how a 19th century company making matches emerged as the Amazon of its day only to later lose its technological edge. It also discusses the many ways in which societies attempt to reign in corporate power, and the strategies of corporations to bypass controls. The text, furthermore, considers the startling ways in which new social movements, emerging business models and developing technologies—from bitcoin to artificial intelligence—will shape the corporations of the future. This book will introduce readers to the legal concept of a corporation, along with the economic and societal factors that gave rise to it as the primary means of conducting business in the modern world. With its broad sweep of history, current relevance, and insightful look to the future, this text will appeal to both scholarly and general audiences.

This collection of cutting-edge research reviews the evolution of the American corporation, the dominant trends in the way it has been studied, and at the same time introduces some new perspectives on the historical trajectory of the business organization as a social institution. The authors draw on cultural theory, anthropology, political theory and legal history to consider the place of the firm in nineteenth and twentieth-century American Society.