Today, the corporation plays a dominant role in economics, politics, and societies across the globe. Understanding the corporation means understanding its legal framework but until recently, the origins and evolution of corporate law have received relatively little attention. This Handbook sheds new light on the historical development of both the corporation and business organization law. This extensive collection brings together contributions from an array of international academics to provide the first wide-ranging history of the laws of corporations and business organizations from ancient to modern times. The contributors offer a global exploration of the development of corporation and company law, moving beyond the United States and Western Europe to present studies in Mexico, India and China, as well as addressing the trajectory of scholarly debate. Not only do the contributions examine the growth of the law of public corporation, they also address the development of laws governing other business forms. This Handbook will prove an invaluable resource for corporation law and business scholars, as well as business and legal historians and economists. Contributors include: B. Aronson, A. Aviram, W. Bratton, G. Del Angel, M. Gelter, A. Gomez-Galvarriato, Y. González de Lara, T.W. Guinnane, R. Harris, L. Johnson, V. Khanna, T. Kuntz, S. Martínez-Rodríguez, D.T. Mitchell, M.T. Moore, J. Rochat, J. Rubin, T. Ruskola, G. Sandrelli, F.L. Stewart, J.D. Turner, U. Varottil, M. Ventoruzzo, M. Wachter, H. Wells, R.E. Wright

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction Harwell Wells Part I Taking Shape 1. Islamic Law and Economic Development Jared Rubin 2. Business Organizations in India Prior to the British East India Company Vikramaditya Khanna 3. Business Organization and Organizational Innovation in Late Medieval Italy Yadira González de Lara 4. Trading with Strangers: The Corporate Form in the Move from Municipal Governance to Overseas Trade Ron Harris Part II Modern Europe 5. The Development of English Company Law before 1900 John D. Turner 6. Shareholder Primacy, Labour, and the Historic Ambivalence of UK Company Law Marc T. Moore 7. German Company Law 1794-1897 Timothy W. Guinnane 8. German Corporate Law in the 20th Century Thilo Kuntz 9. Change for Continuity: The Making of the Société Anonyme in nineteenth Century France Jean Rochat 10. Classes of Shares and Voting Rights in the History of Italian Corporate Law Giulio Sandrelli and Marco Ventoruzzo 11. A History of the Corporation in Spain in the Twentieth Century: Towards Europe Susana Martínez-Rodríguez 12. EU Company Law Harmonization Between Convergence and Varieties of Capitalism Martin Gelter Part III Asia 13. Corporation Law in Late Imperial China Teemu Ruskola 14. The Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Law: A Historical Perspective from India Umakanth Varottil 15. Japanese Corporate Law and Corporate Governance in Historical Perspective Bruce Aronson Part IV North America 16. The Evolution of Mexican Mercantile and Corporate Laws Aurora Gomez-Galvarriato and Gustavo A. Del Angel 17. A History of Canadian Corporate Law: A Divergent Path from the American Model? Fenner L. Stewart 18. For- and Non-profit Special Corporations in America, 1608-1860 Robert E. Wright 19. Legitimating Power: A Brief History of Modern U.S. Corporate Law Dalia T. Mitchell 20. Adolf Berle, E. Merrick Dodd and the New American Corporatism of 1932 William W. Bratton and Michael L. Wachter 21. Corporate Law and the History of Corporate Social Responsibility Lyman Johnson 22. Evolutionary Models of Corporate Law Amitai Aviram Index