Limited liability

Abstract

Many skills, inventions and resources contributed to the rise of England as an industrial and imperial power. In particular, the new industries required large amounts of capital to create and, later, feed them. Small individual sums of capital are the hallmark of an agrarian society; an industrial country requires a vehicle that pools the small individual capitals into a common fund from which large enterprises may be sponsored. The limited liability company was such a vehicle, and consequently was one of the great engines of the English industrial revolution.