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Private Contracting, Law and Finance

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  • Graeme G Acheson
  • Gareth Campbell
  • John D Turner

Abstract

In the late nineteenth century Britain had almost no mandatory shareholder protections, but had very developed financial markets. We argue that private contracting between shareholders and corporations meant that the absence of statutory protections was immaterial. Using approximately 500 articles of association from before 1900, we code the protections offered to shareholders in these private contracts. We find that firms voluntarily offered shareholders many of the protections that were subsequently included in statutory corporate law. We also find that companies offering better protection to shareholders had less concentrated ownership. Received August 19, 2016; editorial decision October 24, 2018 by Editor David Denis. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Suggested Citation

  • Graeme G Acheson & Gareth Campbell & John D Turner, 2019. "Private Contracting, Law and Finance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(11), pages 4156-4195.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:32:y:2019:i:11:p:4156-4195.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhz020
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fjesme, Sturla & Hannah, Leslie & Moore, Lyndon, 2024. "Informed investors, screening, and sorting on the London capital market, 1891-1913," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Bogle, David A. & Campbell, Gareth & Coyle, Christopher & Turner, John D., 2024. "Why did shareholder liability disappear?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Turner, John D., 2024. "Three centuries of corporate governance in the UK," QUCEH Working Paper Series 24-01, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    4. Cihan Artunç, 2024. "Legal origins of corporate governance: Choice of law in Egypt, 1887–1914," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(1), pages 3-40, February.
    5. Marc Deloof & Ine Paeleman, 2024. "International entrepreneurship without investor protection: Evidence from initial public offerings in Belgium before the First World War," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 523-553, May.
    6. Emilie Bonhoure, 2021. "An Original Solution to Agency Issues Among PreWWI Paris-Listed Firms : The Statutory Rule of Profit Allocation," Working Papers halshs-03107869, HAL.
    7. Emilie Bonhoure, 2021. "An Original Solution to Agency Issues Among PreWWI Paris-Listed Firms : The Statutory Rule of Profit Allocation," PSE Working Papers halshs-03107869, HAL.
    8. Guzman, Jorge, 2020. "The Direct Effect of Corporate Law on Entrepreneurship," SocArXiv 967ph, Center for Open Science.
    9. Glauco De Vita & Chengchun Li & Yun Luo, 2022. "Legal origin and financial development: A propensity score matching analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 535-553, January.

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