The 1862 companies act, the origins of the Anthropocene boundary-getting the genie back in the bottle

Abstract

Since the turn of the century, there has been a developing conversation on where the start boundary of the Anthropocene should be situated in time. The article argues that these discussions have overlooked corporations’ history. Specifically, the Companies Act of 1862 was arguably the most important human invention passed in the middle of the 19th century. Effective solutions to climate change could be overlooked if the 1862 Companies Act is ignored. The Act’s passage and accompanying limited liability through the UK Parliament in 1862 boosted financial flows across international borders. It created the modern multinational corporate structure that dominates global business and politics. The Act also stimulated an unintended share-trading market based on the speculative value of company shares rather than dividends paid on company performance. The 1862 Act is the origin of the modern multinational company, which is held responsible for almost all the ecological harm done to the planet today. By the end of the 19th century, the flaws in the law were becoming apparent, highlighted by the Salomon vs Salomon legal dispute in 1897, which would be a warning for the future. The paper proposes re-imagining wealth distribution strategies that can address some unintended consequences of the 1862 Act. The research interrogates historical records and subsequent political, business, contemporary social commentary and literature, and academic material to investigate the 1862 Act’s impact using the concepts of historical institutionalism to reveal the evolution of the modern corporation.