The Origins of Corporations: The Mills of Toulouse in the Middle Ages

ISBN: 0300156480

Author: Sicard, Germain

Condition: Used

Fully modern corporations appeared in fourteenth-century Toulouse, much earlier than previously believedGermain Sicard proves that Europes 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, Sicards 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.