Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd
Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd [1896] UKHL 1, [1897] AC 22 is a landmark UK company law case. The effect of the House of Lords' unanimous ruling was to uphold firmly the doctrine of corporate personality, as set out in the Companies Act 1862, so that creditors of an insolvent company could not sue the company's shareholders for payment of outstanding debts.
Whitechapel High Street
Lindley LJ was the leading expert on partnerships and company law.
Lord Halsbury LC, a conservative peer and author of Halsbury's Laws took a strict literalist approach to legislative interpretation.
Lord Macnaghten.
United Kingdom company law
The United Kingdom company law regulates corporations formed under the Companies Act 2006. Also governed by the Insolvency Act 1986, the UK Corporate Governance Code, European Union Directives and court cases, the company is the primary legal vehicle to organise and run business. Tracing their modern history to the late Industrial Revolution, public companies now employ more people and generate more of wealth in the United Kingdom economy than any other form of organisation. The United Kingdom was the first country to draft modern corporation statutes, where through a simple registration procedure any investors could incorporate, limit liability to their commercial creditors in the event of business insolvency, and where management was delegated to a centralised board of directors. An influential model within Europe, the Commonwealth and as an international standard setter, UK law has always given people broad freedom to design the internal company rules, so long as the mandatory minimum rights of investors under its legislation are complied with.
Beside the River Thames, the City of London is a global financial centre. Within the Square Mile, the London Stock Exchange lies at the heart of the United Kingdom's corporations.
Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom's depiction in 1614 of competing British East India Company and Dutch East India Company ships, both with monopolies to trade. Other chartered corporations, still in existence include the Hudson's Bay Company (est 1670) and the Bank of England (est 1694).
Robert Lowe, then Vice President of the Board of Trade has been dubbed the "father of modern company law" for his role in drafting the 1856 reforms.
Companies employ over half the workers in the UK, and turn over more than £2,500 billion.