ABSTRACT
The modem limited liability corporate form when first introduced was the subject of considerable controversy. Opposition continued to be voiced to limited liability incorporation in the newspapers, professional journals and the periodical literature of the day. Thomas Carlyle, one of the barometers of the moral climate of Victorian England, characterized the limited liability company as a harbinger of evil. The tension existing between these apparently highly ambivalent social and cultural attitudes in respect to the modem corporation and the supposed ‘historical necessity’ of limited liability incorporation legislation to economic development has been one of the principal themes of this study. Rather than reform of limited liability legislation being dictated by its success, it was instead determined by its relative failure. The changes brought about by the introduction of the modern limited liability company were not only of importance in the metropolis, but also in the various colonial settings in which the legislation was introduced.
