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limited liability

law
Written and fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

limited liability, condition under which the losses that owners (shareholders) of a business firm may incur are limited to the amount of capital invested by them in the business and do not extend to their personal assets. Acceptance of this principle by business enterprises and governments was a vital factor in the development of large-scale industry, because it enabled business concerns to mobilize large amounts of capital from a wide variety of investors who were understandably unwilling to risk their entire personal fortunes in their investments.

Joint-stock companies in which members had transferable shares of joint or common stock had become widespread in England in the 17th century to meet the requirements of the new trading companies operating in remote lands in which the financial and political risks were greater. A speculative panic in 1720 resulted in a severe setback to joint-stock enterprise, however, and legislation passed that year made it much more difficult for such companies to obtain charters.

To meet the need for larger amounts of capital in industry, limited partnerships became popular. Known as the société en commandite in France and Kommanditgesellschaft in Germany, the limited-partnership arrangement required at least one partner to be totally liable as in a regular partnership and allowed other partners to be liable only for the amounts invested by them in the business. Limited partnerships were common on the European continent and in the United States in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and in England many unincorporated joint-stock companies were in existence by 1825.

The legal inadequacies regarding extended partnerships and unincorporated joint-stock companies and the need for larger and larger amounts of capital gradually led to the acceptance of the corporate form of enterprise. In England the Joint-Stock Companies Act (1844) made incorporation possible merely by registration, and between 1844 and 1862 the full joint-stock company with limited liability for all shareholders became widespread. The formation of corporate enterprises was also made simpler in France and Germany during the 1860s and ’70s. From this point forward, the limited-liability company was established as the most important form of commercial association in modern economies. See also corporation.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Brian Duignan.