[...]... Stanford Law Review 36, nos 1 & 2 (1984), 57–125 5 The legal history literature in the field of English business law within either of the paradigms is too immense to be listed here A few examples in the fields of contract law and negotiable instruments are: J Milnes Holden, The History of Negotiable Instruments in English Law (University of London, 1955); James Steven Rogers, The 4 Industrializing English Law. .. Rubin, ‘‘Towards a New History of Law and Material Society in England: 1750–1914,’’ in G R Rubin and David Sugarman, eds., Law, Economy and Society, 1750–1914: Essays in the History of English Law (Abingdon: Professional Books, 1984); Mark V Tushnet, ‘‘Perspectives on the Development of American Law: A Critical Review of Friedman’s ‘A History of American Law, ’ ’’ Wisconsin Law Review, no 1 (1977), 81–109;... Crown-created corporations 18 Industrializing English Law was considered that incorporation was an essential component of the King’s exclusive and voluntary prerogative to create and grant dignities, jurisdictions, liberties, exemptions, and, in our case, franchises.11 The law of corporations was classified by contemporaries as part of the law of the King, the core of the English Constitution The employment... Selden Society, 1976), vol 92, chap 19 12 John Bouvier, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia, 8th ed., 2 vols (Kansas: Vernan Law Book, 1914), see ‘‘Quo Warranto’’ and ‘‘Scire Facias’’; Holdsworth, English Law, vol 9, pp 65–67; J H Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History, 3d ed (London: Butterworths, 1990), 166–167; Kyd, Law of Corporations, 395–439 The distinction between the two writs... period See Floud and McCloskey, eds., Economic History 6 Industrializing English Law railway age, it was swiftly met by the legal system The law responded functionally to the economy and placed no constraints on growth during the industrial revolution This second interpretation also relies on a wider tradition, one that maintains that the law was merely a functional element in a wider economic and... 1968); David M Trubek, ‘‘Max Weber on Law and the Rise of Capitalism,’’ Wisconsin Law Review, no 3 (1972), 720; Anthony T Kronman, Max Weber (Stanford University Press, 1983) 10 James Willard Hurst, Law and the Conditions of Freedom in the NineteenthCentury United States (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1956); Lawrence M Friedman, A History of American Law, 2d ed (New York: Simon and Schuster,... within what was by then a crystallized common law system The origins of the corporation within or without the law, and the timing and route of the importation of the corporation from the Continent into the common law, which has bothered legal historians since the nineteenth century, did not interest the practically oriented sixteenth-century English judges and lawyers All they wanted was to solve, as they... State,’’ International Review of Law and Economics 3 (1983), 107– 120 Of the above, only DuBois is clearly aware of the deficiencies of the unincorporated company 8 Industrializing English Law the legal framework of business organization between 1720 and 1844 Stated briefly, I reject the functional interpretation by showing that there were needs and calls for reform in the law of business organization in... discussed above, some contemporary jurisprudential schools, such as religious and secular natural law and the declarative view of the common law, perceived the law as more autonomous Other schools, such as the utilitarian, positivist, and reformist views of the role of legislation, and the historical view of the common law, perceive it as more instrumental Interaction that was taking place in a period, or a... designed by shrewd businessmen and lawyers, and received from the courts of law the limited degree of recognition needed for practical functioning.14 This interpretation fits the notions of those who advocate the importance of ‘ law- inaction’’ and of writing legal history from below and stress the centrality of fictions, bypasses, and other flexibilities in the common law system (which would ease Weber’s . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" This page intentionally left blank Industrializing English Law Legal stasis in the face of rapid economic change poses serious. Institutions, and Commitment Series list continues on page following Index INDUSTRIALIZING ENGLISH LAW ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATION, 1720–1844 R ON H ARRIS Tel