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The majority of the companies that surround us are corporations (SA) and limited liability companies (SRL).
This means that your partners risk the company only the amount of money that has contributed.
This form of economy that seems so logical today, was exceptional until well into the twentieth century.
Until then in most of the companies the partners responded with all their personal wealth in case of bankruptcy.
Susana Martínez, a researcher at the Department of Applied Economics, has studied the particularities of her development in Spain
Martínez leads the ISLERIM project, in charge of analyzing how SA and SRL have been key in capitalist development.
In the countries bordering the Mediterranean, in particular Spain, Italy and Turkey, the impetus of these societies was a great challenge, and even had to overcome the rejection on the part of the merchants and the political leaders.
For Spain, the development of modern societies came accompanied by the invasion of Napoleon at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
"Although in previous years the country had had its own legislation recognized in the European framework, it was in the nineteenth century when two trade codes that give the leap to modernity were approved: 1829 and 1885," explains Susana Martínez, Spain being the first country in Europe to introduce this novelty.
The second code despite many failed reform attempts - continues today, "many of its articles have been replaced by particular laws such as the Capital Companies Act (2010)," comments the researcher.
In spite of the influence of its neighboring country, the Spanish mercantile legislation presents strong innovations, which justifies its study in a comparative perspective.
For example, it allowed the introduction of SRLs through a simple regulation, without the need for a law.
Already entering the twentieth century, the country continued to stand out by a very open legislation, Martinez clarifies that "there were hardly any restrictions to create SA and SRL, which contrasted with what happened in other European countries."
It was not until the 1950s that Spain modernized itself, creating an independent law for each type of society.
An effort that lasted throughout the second half of the twentieth century in the attempt to approximate its legislation to the rest of the European framework.
Together with the Spanish case the project also analyzes the characteristics of the legislation in Italy, handled by F. Trivellato and Turkey, investigated by S. Agir.
These countries also have interesting peculiarities.
In the case of Italy, the emergence of limited contracts.
This type of contract meant that the entrepreneur who contributed the capital did not participate in the management of the trade and in return his responsibility was limited to importing a fixed money.
"An advantage that allowed to create credit relations between agents without kinship," says the researcher.
The characteristics of these first partnerships have been analyzed on the basis of some 4,800 contracts found in the Archives of Stato in Florence, dated between 1445 and 1808. This information is being systematized and represents a unique sample that will allow to draw more conclusions about the First companies with limited liability in Europe.
The Turkish case is unique because of the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic.
This country will adopt the French code, the same one that influenced Spanish legislation, in the mid-nineteenth century.
Until then the law that governed the commerce was Islamic and in her did not exist the figure of the SA, although the foreigners if they could use it to do business in the country.
Although the French code was included, Muslim legislation persisted and the discourse against SA persisted among the layers of society.
The introduction of the SRL was also late and encountered the same resistance.
For these three countries that these figures were available did not mean that they were used.
On the contrary, in some cases a long process of adaptation was necessary and its consolidation was costly.
In addition to the research, in this project there is a strong effort to carry out dissemination days to explain "what are the keys to success in the companies of our century, based on social responsibility, sustainability, innovation, innovation and importance Of the European framework ".
Likewise, they promote the dissemination of Mercantile Societies by holding exhibitions to transfer this knowledge, as the last carried out in the Regional Assembly (Cartagena) and inaugurated by the President of the Assembly and the Rector of the University of Murcia.
This project is part of the 'State Program of R + D + i oriented to the challenges of society' of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
Source: Universidad de Murcia
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