History of the public limited company

In commerce, an important innovation was the joint stock company. The small societies of the
Middle Ages could not raise the capital necessary for long voyages across the seas. Therefore,
traders formed associations called "regulated companies." Governments gave these groups a
monopoly over trade in a given area; each member of the group, while helping to meet common
expenses, traded on their own account. There were associations of men, not of capital. A type of
association that attracted investments from abroad became necessary. The answer was the
shareholders' company, a surprisingly flexible institution that became the origin of many other
economic and political institutions on both sides of the Atlantic.

The shareholders' company began as an association of investors, not merchants. People bought
parts of a company or operation and took part of the profits in proportion to their investment.
When the association remained behind a particular company, it became a company of
shareholders. This investment had two advantages: it allowed anyone from an honestly wealthy
man to //Queen Elizabeth I// to invest in a business venture like //Drake's travels// and for
businessmen to associate with courtiers and statesmen, when knowledge and influence in
business required the presence of court officials for the success of commercial enterprises. The
idea of the shareholder company originated in southern Europe, but was first applied in England,
in 1553, in a company in Russia, founded to make long sea voyages.

The first shareholder companies depended on government support and were not related to
industry. The stockholders' company quickly became the predominant form of business
organization.

The cumulative effect of those changes made the king, not the city, the primary regulator of
economic activity. The unit of economic activity in the Middle Ages was established by the city or
city-state. As more powerful monarchs appeared at the end of the Middle Ages, the national
economy invariably absorbed the urban economy throughout Europe, except in Italy and
Germany. The monarch was personified in the officials of the medieval city and regulated
commerce and production much as municipal governments had done, but on a larger scale.

Collective society
A general partnership is one of the possible types of commercial company . It is an
external company (which acts and responds to third parties as a person other than its
partners), which carries out commercial or civil activities under a unified company name,
with the partners being responsible for debts that could not be covered with capital. social.
It is a type of partnership in which a partner does not contribute capital, only labor and is
called an industrial partner.
The main feature of the general partnership, which differentiates it from other types of
companies such as the public limited company or limited liability company, is the fact that
the liability for the company's debts is unlimited. This means that in the event that their
own assets are not enough to cover all the debts, which will normally lead to bankruptcy
proceedings ( bankruptcy , suspension of payments or similar), the partners must respond
with their own assets to pay the outstanding debts. to creditors.

The collective partnership is heir to the original mercantile company (merchant society or
societas mercatorum of the Middle Ages) and, as such, one of the oldest mercantile
corporate forms that exist. However, the absence of limitation of liability for its partners
has meant that it has gradually disappeared. Currently, the predominant form of commercial
company is the limited liability company, in its different variants, leaving other companies
such as the general partnership reduced to a marginal role in commercial traffic. In some
countries, such as Spain, their legal regime is the one applicable to commercial companies
that have not complied with the registration obligation ( irregular company ).

Administration
The administration of a partnership, from a structural perspective, can be legal, proprietary
and non-privative. When there is a plurality of administrators, and from a functional
perspective, separate or joint administration may occur.

Structural sense

Legal administration

Legal administration will apply when the statutes are silent on the administrative regime of
the current company. This type of administration assumes that any partner is an
administrator, and depending on whether this administration is exercised jointly or
separately, the partner's actions will have to be unanimously agreed upon or he will have to
suffer the duty of information to the rest of the partners, together with the possibility for
them to use their right to object.

Private administration

In private administration, an express agreement, or the corporate statutes included in [[]],

expressly appoint an administrator for the company. They point to one or more specific
people who will have the right to administer the company. It is a personal intuitive right, so
that only the specific partners mentioned may hold it, and it cannot be transferred
unilaterally.

Non-private administration

Also through an agreement or contract, the figure of one or more administrators is

established. However, it will be a position not linked to a specific person, so that the
partners may appoint and dismiss the administrator, the latter depending on the instructions
given by the partners.

Functional sense

The functional meaning of the administration of the collective company can only be
analyzed based on the existence of several administrators. It is about resolving decision-
making from a plurality of sources, and establishing a coherent and non-contradictory will
of society.

Joint administration

The joint administration of the company can be expressly agreed upon, which will require
the principle of unanimity of the administrators in making important decisions.

Separate administration

If nothing is said, it will be up to the regulation of separate administration, a figure that

accepts as corporate will that expressed by any of the administrators. These, except in cases
of urgency, have a duty of information towards the rest of the administrators, and in turn,
the other administrators may exercise a right of opposition. If these rules are violated, the
defective will issued by the administrator will be the will of the company against third
parties. However, the director who failed to comply must compensate the company for the
damages caused, and a cause for removal will arise against him.

Plurality of Directors in Collective Name Companies The plurality of partners refers to

the tendency of equal legal position of all of them, with a common objective, are the
elements that must be considered when articulating an organizational system that consents
the adoption of collective decisions or decisions with significance in common affairs,
without detriment, on the other hand, to the appropriate agility in the adoption of these
decisions. On the other hand, there is plurality of partners, which is when two or more
partners participate in the administration of companies.