ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the foundational principles of company law in detail. Therefore, the concept of a company began as an agreeable collection of people joining together for some social or joint purpose. A company was simply an association of people in its earliest form. A company was formed in Paris to trade in America, called the Mississippi Company. In 1719 in Paris, speculative fever was at its height as people fought to give their money over to the Mississippi Company to acquire a 'share' in the riches, which everyone agreed was sure to be earned by members of the company from the company's prospective trading activities in America. Trading in these shares in the London coffee houses around Exchange Alley was feverishly excited. Huge fortunes were made in the short term in buying and selling shares in the South Sea Company. One of the key developments in the growth of the company was the development of limited liability.
