Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/271225 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
QMS Research Paper No. 2019/05
Publisher: 
Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Management School, Belfast
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 circa 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 which were subsequently included in statutory corporate law. We also find that companies offering better protection to shareholders had less concentrated ownership.
Subjects: 
Law and finance
ADRI
shareholder protection
corporate ownership
common law
JEL: 
G32
G34
G38
K22
N23
N43
N83
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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