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  • The Flowers of Progress: Corporations Law in the Colonies

    Author(s)
    McQueen, Robert
    Griffith University Author(s)
    McQueen, Robert I.
    Year published
    2008
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    In the British colonies from the latter part of the nineteenth century, one of the major indicia of whether a colonised economy was modernised was the presence of company laws modelled on the English Companies Act. This paper examines the manner in which, during the colonial period, companies legislation in a number of colonial locales was often highly politicised rather than being apolitical in nature. It is little noted in histories of companies law that in the colonies the legislation often had special provisions inserted to accommodate special circumstances existing in particular colonies. The presumed ...
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    In the British colonies from the latter part of the nineteenth century, one of the major indicia of whether a colonised economy was modernised was the presence of company laws modelled on the English Companies Act. This paper examines the manner in which, during the colonial period, companies legislation in a number of colonial locales was often highly politicised rather than being apolitical in nature. It is little noted in histories of companies law that in the colonies the legislation often had special provisions inserted to accommodate special circumstances existing in particular colonies. The presumed apolitical nature of companies laws is belied by practices such as typing companies by race in South Africa and, due to a distrust amongst colonists of indigenous Indian directors, the use of the managing agent system in Indian companies law up to the time of independence. This paper also examines the responses of indigenous political and business leaders to companies at the time of decolonisation. Of particular interest are the attitudes of these leaders to the possible effects of this introduced legislative regime on traditional business structures, and also their possible concerns as to the potential this legislation might hold for foreigners being able to acquire significant influence locally through large shareholdings in local companies. In this respect, the paper particularly focuses on Basutoland/Lesotho and the manner in which the introduction of modern companies laws was discussed at the moment of decolonisation. The paper then traces the manner in which those laws have influenced subsequent economic developments in Lesotho, and the salience or otherwise in hindsight of local leaders comments on the legislation at the point of decolonisation.
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    Journal Title
    Griffith Law Review
    Volume
    17
    Issue
    1
    Publisher URI
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10383441.2008.10854615
    Copyright Statement
    © 2008 Griffith University. Self-archiving of the author-manuscript version is not yet supported for this journal. Please refer to the journal link for access to the definitive, published version or contact the author for more information.
    Subject
    Law
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/21348
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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