The legal structure of multinational enterprises

Abstract

In England - It has always been in the nature of Man to unite forces with other fellow human beings in order to attain a specific goal. In trade this first occurred in England by the creation of Guilds for trade. These guilds rather than being a legal entity were functioning entities which were consequent to experience rather than to official license from King or Parliament. Official government license first became important when trade guilds sought special privileges from national law-makers. But such grants did not create legal entities; they bestowed particular privileges on entities already existing in fact and accepted by laws as legitimate. However, by the early 1600's it was firmly established that royal authorization was necessary in order to create a new entity or corporation. The reason behind this development was the need of the national, centralised authority to assert itself and to establish its legal superiority over local governments and interest groups. Therefore the purpose then being economical, was political.