The History of the Company:
Development of the Business Corporation, 1700–1914
General Editor: Robin Pearson
Contributing Editors: James Taylor and Mark Freeman
978 1 85196 820 6: 234x156mm: £395.00/$725.00
978 1 85196 821 3: 234x156mm: £395.00/$725.00
This two-part collection of rare texts explores the changing economic, social and political role of the Anglo-American firm.
The first part covers the period 1700–1850. The mid-nineteenth century saw the advent of the railway age and the biggest expansion of the shareholder base since the financial revolution of the late seventeenth century. Throughout the 1840s a series of laws were introduced to regulate the expanding corporate sector and protect shareholders. The decade marks a turning point in the legal identity of the business enterprise, as companies responded by introducing new types of capital structure and business organisation. The second part, therefore, takes these changes into account and brings the story forward from 1850–1914.
This edition presents very rare documents from UK and US archives, including minute books, accounts, company prospectuses and legal deeds.
- Each part features a substantial general introduction, which provides an overview of the development of the British and American business corporation in their respective periods and places this development in its wider economic, social and political contexts
- Each document or group of related documents is prefaced by a headnote focusing on the provenance, context and significance of the document to the history of the business enterprise
- Draws on rare texts from under-utilized British and American libraries and archives
Sample pages
Contents
Part I - 1700-1850
Volume 1: Birth
Deed of Settlement of the Society for Insuring Houses, in and near Philadelphia (1787); Westminster Fire Office, Deed of Settlement of 1805 (1851); Ralph Dodd, By Authority. Joint Stock Companies with Transferrable Shares. Report of the Arguments, upon the Application to the Court of King’s Bench, for leave to file an Information against Mr Ralph Dodd, upon the statute of 6 Geo. I. cap. 18. (1808); John Van Voorst, An Address to the Proprietors of the Intended Gas Light and Coke Company; to which Is Annexed, an Epitome of the Evidence Taken before the Committee of the House of Commons, etc. (1809) (extract); Letter on the Use and Abuse of Incorporations, Addressed to the Delegation from the City of New York, in the State Legislature. By one of their Constituents (1827); John George, A View of the Existing Law Affecting Unincorporated Joint Stock Companies (1825); Stirlingshire Banking Company, Prospectus of the Stirlingshire Banking Company (1831); The Illinois Investment Company, Contract of Copartnery (1837); William Frederick Spackman, An Analysis of the Railway Interest of the United Kingdom, Embracing All Companies Registered to the 31st Day of October 1845, Shewing the Defects of the Present System of Railway Management and the Necessity for Amendments in the Law of Provisional Registration (1845); Daniel Hardcastle, Railway Audit. A Plan for the Audit of Accounts in Railway and other Joint-Stock Companies (1850)
Volume 2: Structure
Edward Vernon, Considerations upon the White Herring and Cod Fisheries (1749); Boyse, Remarks on a Pamphlet intituled ‘A Short View of a Dispute … Concerning the Regulation of the African Trade’ (1750); anon., A Caution to the Directors of the East India Company (1767); An Old Proprietor, An Address to the Shareholders of the Gas-Light and Coke Company, on the Financial Accounts of that Corporation (1825); Richard Cort, A Letter to the Shareholders of the British Iron Company, Showing the Past and Present Losses of the Speculation; with Suggestions to Realize the Future Profit of the Concern (1826); Peter Watt, The Theory and Practice of Joint-Stock Banking, Showing the Advantages which Will Arise to the Agricultural, Commercial, and Manufacturing Interests of England from the Institution of Joint-Stock Banks of Issue, Discount and Deposit (1836); J Knight and Benjamin H Latrobe, Report upon the Locomotive Engines: and the Police and Management of Several of the Principal Rail Roads in the Northern and Middle States (1838); Andrew Meek, Observations on the Government of Joint Stock Banks in England (1841); J W Gilbart, The Moral and Religious Duties of Public Companies (1846)
Volume 3: Strategy
Rules and Regulations adopted by the Fire Insurance Companies in the City of New York (1821); John Taylor, Statements Respecting the Profits of Mining in England Considered in relation to the Prospects of Mining in Mexico, in a Letter to Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq, MP (1825); Sir William Rawson, The Present Operations and Future Prospects of the Mexican Mine Associations Analysed by the Evidence of Official Documents, English and Mexican, and the National Advantages Expected from Joint Stock Companies Considered; in a Letter to the Right Hon. George Canning (1825); F G Smith, Practical Remarks on the Present State of Fire Insurance Business: the Evils of Competition pointed out, with Hints for Improvement (1832); Charles Fenn, A Compendium of the English and Foreign Funds, and the Principal Joint Stock Companies, Forming an Epitome of the Various Objects of Investment Negotiable in London, with some Account of the Internal Debts and Revenues of the Foreign States, and Tables for Calculating the Value of the Different Stocks, Etc. (1837) (extract); George Kinnear, A History of the Rise of Exchange Companies in Scotland, and a Defence of Their Proper Business (1848); James Brown, Observations on Mr Kinnear’s ‘History of the Rise of Exchange Companies in Scotland; and a Defence of Their Proper Business’ (1848)
Volume 4: Exit and Death
Anon, The Precipitation and Fall of Messrs D(ouglas), H(eron) and Company, late Bankers in Air, with the Causes of their…Ruin, Investigated…by a Committee of Inquiry, appointed by the Proprietors (1778); An Act for enabling the Company of Proprietors of the Rochdale Canal more effectually to provide for the Discharge of their Debts (1806); ‘Select Committee on Joint-Stock Companies’, Parliamentary Papers, 1844, VII.353 (1844) (extract); The Amalgamation of Railways Considered as Affecting the Internal Commerce of the Country (1846); Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, Report of the Committee appointed to investigate the concerns of the Hartford County Mutual Fire Insurance Company (1848)
Part II - 1850-1914
Volume 5: Birth
John Duncan, Practical Directions for Forming and Managing Joint-Stock Companies ... under the Provisions of the ‘Joint-Stock Companies Act, 1856’ (1856); Henry Lloyd Morgan, Auditors: Remarks on the Qualifications and Duties of Auditors of Accounts of Joint Stock and other Public Bodies (1857); Henry Lloyd Morgan, Personal Liabilities of Directors of Joint Stock Companies under the Fraudulent Trustees’ Act, with Remarks on Limited Liability (1858); Alfred Emden, The Shareholders’ Legal Guide, being a Concise Statement of the Law Relating to Shares, and of the Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Shareholders (1884); American Telephone Company, Prospectus of the American Telephone Company. Organized under the General Laws of the State of Virginia, for the Purpose of Carrying on the Telephone Business throughout the United States of Venezuela (1887); Gill McDowell Jarrah Company Limited, Prospectus (1898)
Volume 6: Structure
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, Organization of the Service of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail Road, under the Proposed New System of Management (1847); William Thomas Thomson, On the Present Position of the Life Assurance Interests of Great Britain (1852); Robert Stewart, The Audit of Joint-Stock Bank Accounts by Shareholders: Is It Practicable or Desirable? (1853); William Rawson, Diary of a Director: Notes and Recollections Made during the Last Fourteen Years (1857); Pennsylvania Rail Road Company, Organization for Conducting the Business of the Road, adopted December 26, 1857 (1858); Pennsylvania Rail Road Company, By-Laws and Organization for Conducting the Business of the Pennsylvania Rail Road Company (1881); Michael Thomas Bass, A Circular from M. T. Bass, M.P., to Great Eastern Shareholders with a Financial Report (1876); James Graham Cannon, An Ideal Bank: an address delivered before the Institute of Accounts, New York, Jan 1891 (1891); American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Annual Report for 1911 (1911); American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Plan for Employees’ Pensions, Disability Benefits and Insurance (1912)
Volume 7: Strategy
A Member of the Stock Exchange, Shareholders’ Key to the London and North Western Railway Company (1853); Manhattan Fire Insurance Company, Instructions for the Agents of the…Company (1859); Henry Howell Putnam, Discriminating Taxation: a Review of the Arguments advanced in Support of a Discriminating Tax on the American Branches of Foreign Fire Insurance Companies (1898); New York Board of Fire Underwriters, Report Concerning Foreign Insurance Companies. Adopted September 21, 1870 (1870); US House of Representatives, Proceedings of the Committee on Manufactures…in Relation to Trusts, in US House of Representatives, 50th Congress 1st session, Report no. 3112 (1888) (extract); T H Farrer, ‘Equalisation of Railway Rates’, Fortnightly Review (1882); William E. Chandler, New Hampshire’s Enslavement by the Free Passes, the Ale and Rum and the Corruption Money of the Railroads (1891); Edward Sherwood Meade, ‘The Capitalization of the International Mercantile Marine Company’, Political Science Quarterly (1904); Benjamin Howarth Thwaite, The American Invasion; or England’s Commercial Danger and the Triumphal Progress of the United States, with Remedies proposed to enable England to preserve her Industrial Position (1902); Conference of Counsel for Railroad Companies, Report of the Committee appointed by the Conference of Counsel for Railroad Companies held at Atlantic City, July 13, 14, 15, 1908 (1908); American Telegraph and Telephone Company, The Greatest Telephone System in the World as an Investment (1909); US Department of Commerce and Labour, Bureau of Corporations, ‘History of the Foreign Interests of the Tobacco Combination’, from Report of Commissioner of Corporations on the Tobacco Industry (1909); The Menace to Business of the Sherman Anti-trust Act (1910); New York Chamber of Commerce, Resolutions adopted February 19, 1914, in Regard to Proposed anti Trust Legislation: Statement of underlying Principles that should Control the Regulation of Business: Report by the Special Committee appointed ... March 3, 1914 (1914)
Volume 8: Exit and Death
Robert Russell Notman, Railway Amalgamation: Addressed to the Shareholders of the Aberdeen, Scottish Midland, Dundee and Arbroath, Scottish Central, and Caledonian Railway Companies (1852); Anon., Remarks on the Expediency of some of the Private Banks of London Being Formed into Joint-Stock Companies (1856); How to Mismanage a Bank: A Review of the Western Bank of Scotland (1859); Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation, Contract between the Boston & Lowell and Nashua & Lowell Railroad Corporations, February 1, 1857 (1877); Overend, Gurney and Co. (Limited), Report of the Committee of the Defence Association (1867); Robert Crawford, Letter to the Policy-Holders and Annuitants of the European Assurance Society, by a former Director (1871); B Haughton, Railway Amalgamation (1872); Robert Benson, The Amalgamation of Railway Companies; or the Alternative of Their Purchase by the State Considered (1872)
Reviews
'The editors deserve much credit...recommended'
– CHOICE
'The History of the Company is a title that will prove useful to collections in business, economic, and legal history. The primary sources presented in this work make it an excellent supplement to the secondary literature...[the] primary source documents are well-chosen and representative of the era. Moreover, the outstanding introductions that accompany each document provide ample context and describe issues that should stimulate further exploration in the origin of the firm.'
– Mary M. Mintz, Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship