Invention des Entités Juridiques

Invention of Society to Legal Entities

• Early societies, primarily trading partnerships, emerged in Eurasia around 4000 BCE.
• Two main forms existed:
  • Temporary: Individuals pooling resources for a specific, often commercial, venture (e.g., expeditions). These were limited in duration and scope.
  • Durable: Family-based, relying on kinship ties for trust. These established trading and transportation networks across regions.
• Key characteristics of temporary societies:
  • Contracts outlining contributions, risks, and rewards for partners.
  • Practiced across various ancient civilizations (Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Persia, Greece, Arabia, India, China).
  • Often maritime-oriented, exemplified by "nautical" lending contracts in ancient Greece and Rome. Lenders advanced funds to equip vessels, with profits shared proportionally.
  • Risks were managed through security on the borrower's part.
  • These contracts foreshadowed aspects of modern insurance.
• Ancient example: Androcles v. Lacritus case highlighting loans secured by goods (e.g., wine).
  • The case demonstrated the legal mechanisms used to ensure repayment.
  • This arrangement served as a model for similar transactions for centuries.

Durable Societies

• These are more complex to define and historically less well documented than temporary societies.
• Often intertwined with religious or cultural associations, making distinctions challenging.
• Examples:
  • Medieval merchant Francesco di Marco Datini (1335-1410). He built a vast trading empire spanning Avignon and Tuscany, demonstrating advanced business practices that utilized partnerships and capital management.
  • Merchant communities, like those of Kanis. They used superior market intelligence to profit from price arbitrage.
• Difficulty separating from broader cultural, economic and political structures, as seen in church organizations (i.e. the Catholic Church), religious temples of different cultures and other economic activities.

Evolution to Capital Societies

• Limitations of partnerships:
  • Dissolution upon member loss or death.
  • Impractical for large-scale projects with long lifespans.
• Solutions:
  • Public ownership of vital infrastructure (bridges, mills, aqueducts) is an option to tackle the risk for significant projects.
  • Development of capital companies: Entities separate from their owners, leading to legal entities.
• Definition of legal entities (personnes morales):
  • A non-human legal entity, authorized and recognized by law.
  • A group of individuals or assets with a separate legal identity to pursue long-term goals.
  • French legal system distinguishes various types of legal entities, including public (state, municipalities) and private actors (e.g., corporations, associations, economic groupings).

Early Capital Companies in France

• Examples of early capital companies in France:
  • Mills of Bazacle (Toulouse): A notable example of a prolonged commercial operation functioning continuously for over seven centuries. Operated for milling grain, using river power.
• Reflect advancement of methods for long-term investment and management of economic ventures.
• Society's capital is the combined worth of its contributors' assets.
  • The word "capital" (from Latin "caput") implies the foremost or primary part of a financial asset.
  • Attributing monetary value to diverse contributions (money, land, tools, inventions, labor) allows for a collective assessment.