DOCSLIB.ORG

Durham E-Theses

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Durham E-Theses View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Durham e-Theses Durham E-Theses The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation: A Historical Analysis The Development of the Charter up to 1500, the Rise of the Chartered Corporation post 1500, the Decline and Fall of the Charter as a Method of Incorporation in the 19th Century and the Potential for a Resurgence in the 21st Century. BOARDMAN-WESTON, THOMAS,KENNETH,CECIL How to cite: BOARDMAN-WESTON, THOMAS,KENNETH,CECIL (2012) The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation: A Historical Analysis The Development of the Charter up to 1500, the Rise of the Chartered Corporation post 1500, the Decline and Fall of the Charter as a Method of Incorporation in the 19th Century and the Potential for a Resurgence in the 21st Century. , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5572/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 MJUR THESIS SUBMISSION The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation: A Historical Analysis The Development of the Charter up to 1500, the Rise of the Chartered Corporation post 1500, the Decline and Fall of the Charter as a Method of Incorporation in the 19th Century and the Potential for a Resurgence in the 21st Century. Tom Boardman-Weston – University College – Law School January 2012 i | P a g e The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation: A Historical Analysis – Abstract Despite the increasing impact and pervasiveness of companies’ law in the United Kingdom, little research has been undertaken to examine its development in the pre-registration, incorporation by charter period (pre-1844) and the ‘revolution’ of routine Companies Acts ending the charter monopoly. This work attempts to examine closely the development of the chartered body from its first inception in pre-Norman times through its commercial expansion in the 16th – early 19th Centuries culminating in not only its virtual de facto death but also its de jure death in 1844 with the rise of the registered corporation. In order to achieve this, both contemporary and modern evidence and commentary has been analysed, and a ‘timeline’ of developments created. As an integral part of this, the impact of case-law and jurisprudence will be considered, and the impact which it had upon the body of statute-law considered. Having presented, discussed and evaluated the evidence, the work concludes by discussing the possibilities for a chartered form of incorporation for commercial going concerns in the 21st Century and beyond. In the conclusion, it is hoped that suitable evidence will be provided to illustrate that the ‘chartered’ method of incorporation still retains a number of advantages over the more current ‘registration method’ and to apply these views to a modern company may not be as archaic and anachronistic as previously believed. To this end, a final case-study will be used to illustrate how this theory may work in fact. T.K.C. Boardman-Weston ----- The author would like to acknowledge the continued support provided to him by his supervisors in the law school, and in particular Mr. Christopher Riley who provided him not only with large amounts of material with which to work, but also with a clear passion for this area of the law, and historical law more generally. He would also like to thank Mr. J. Viney, Mr. H. Skudra and Miss. A. McDonald for acting as sounding boards throughout the process. ii | P a g e Table of Contents Abstract and Aknowledgements..………………………………………………………………………………………………………..............…i Table of Legislation.......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Cases..................................................................................................................................................v Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….vi Chapter ONE – The Ancestors of Chartered Corporations ………………………………………………………….…1 i) Companies, Commerce and their Mechanics………………………………………………………………………….1 ii) Charta to Charter…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4 Chapter TWO - The Birth of Chartered Organisations …………………………………………………………….…….7 The Gilds Merchant……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9 Fig. 2.1 - Political Map of France 1154………………………………………………………………………………….13 The Craft Guilds……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 Chapter THREE –The 16 th and 17 th Centuries, the Formation of the ‘Great’ Companies and their Rise. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………18 Table 3.1 – Joint Stock Companies formed in the 16 th Century…………………………………………….19 Regulated Corporations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..19 Joint-Stock Corporations………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20 Table 3.2 – Time-lines of 10 companies and their Corporate Forms…………………………………….22 Fig. 3.3 – Protectionism via global duopoly – The Treaty of Tordesillas Line ........................... 24 Case-Study: The East India Company ............................................................................................ 25 Fig. 3.4 – British Influence in India 1785 ................................................................................... 28 Fig. 3.5 – British Influence in India 1857 ................................................................................... 29 Governance of the East India Company ........................................................................................ 32 Fig. 3.6 – Structure of the East India Company ......................................................................... 32 Table 3.7 – Governance comparison between the East India Company and a 21 st Century Company ................................................................................................................................... 34 iii | P a g e Chapter FOUR – The Situation in 1700, South Sea Company, Sword Blade Company and BoE. …36 The Bank of England ..................................................................................................................... 36 The Sword Blade Company ........................................................................................................... 38 The South Sea Company ............................................................................................................... 41 Corporate Governance .................................................................................................................. 43 Chapter FIVE – The Bubble Act 1720 – Background and Effect ……………………………………………………45 The Mississippi Bubble (The bankrupting of France) .................................................................... 46 England’s Bubble ........................................................................................................................... 47 Fig. 5.1 – A graph illustrating the value of South Sea Stock in 1720, both in actual terms and in terms of subscription cost. ....................................................................................................... 50 The Act – Not many people know that…. ..................................................................................... 51 “News Just In – Breathing Legalised” - A Legal Solution to a Non-Existent Problem? ................. 54 Chapter SIX – The Birth of Modern Companies (1844). The Death of the Charter? ……………………..58 Political Wrangling – Economic Liberalism v. State Control58 The impact of case law on the law of companies ......................................................................... 61 Empirical Comparison ................................................................................................................... 67 Graph 6.1................................................................................................................................... 68 Graph 6.2................................................................................................................................... 68 Corporate Governance .................................................................................................................. 69 Case Study on State Interference in Corporate Affairs: EIC v. Railtrack ....................................... 70 Chapter SEVEN – In cauda venenum ……………………………………………………………………………………………73 Case Study: News Corporation, BSkyB, free markets and monopolies. ....................................... 75 Chapter EIGHT – Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….78 Appendix I – Charter of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers ………………………………………………81 iv | P a g e Appendix II – Charter of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries …………………………………………………. 87 Appendix III – A Brief Treatise on Stock Jobbing ………………………………………………………………………..104 Bibliography and Table of Cases ……………………………………………………………………………………………….110
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Recapitalization Or Reform? the Bankruptcy of the First Dutch West India Company and the Formation of the Second West India Company, 1674
    Itinerario, Vol. 43, No. 1, 88–106. © 2019 Research Institute for History, Leiden University. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:10.1017/S016511531900007X Recapitalization or Reform? The Bankruptcy of the First Dutch West India Company and the Formation of the Second West India Company, 1674 ERIK ODEGARD* E-mail: [email protected] The Dutch West India Company (WIC), founded in 1621, was, in the words of the States General, “disbanded and destroyed” in September 1674 due to bankruptcy. In its stead, a second West India Company was founded, with a charter largely taken over from the first. This article explores how the dissolution of the first company and the conflicting interests of stockholders, bondholders, and company directors were managed. As it turns out, the old company was not actually liquidated; instead, its assets were simply handed over to the successor company, while an intricate financial construction was devised to take care of the debt burden and to capitalize the new company. The reasons for this unusual arrangement must be sought in the company’s great political, and particularly geopolit- ical, importance. Since the Dutch state was unwilling and unable to handle colonial gov- ernance and defence itself, it needed a placeholder in the form of a chartered company. However, the bankruptcy of the WIC, coming at the time it did, had major consequences for the shape of the Dutch Atlantic of the eighteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • European Background of American History
    European Background of American History E. P. Cheyney European Background of American History Table of Contents European Background of American History..........................................................................................................1 E. P. Cheyney.................................................................................................................................................1 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES.........................................................................................1 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................3 EUROPEAN BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN HISTORY...................................................................................5 CHAPTER I. THE EAST AND THE WEST................................................................................................5 CHAPTER II. ORIENTAL AND OCCIDENTAL TRADE−ROUTES.....................................................10 CHAPTER III. ITALIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO EXPLORATION........................................................16 CHAPTER IV. PIONEER WORK OF PORTUGAL..................................................................................21 CHAPTER V. THE SPANISH MONARCHY IN THE AGE OF COLUMBUS.......................................27 CHAPTER VI. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF CENTRAL EUROPE.................................................34 CHAPTER VII. THE SYSTEM OP CHARTERED COMMERCIAL COMPANIES...............................40
    [Show full text]
  • The Consequences of Early Colonial Policies on East African Economic and Political Integration
    The Consequences of Early Colonial Policies on East African Economic and Political Integration The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Battani, Matthew. 2020. The Consequences of Early Colonial Policies on East African Economic and Political Integration. Master's thesis, Harvard Extension School. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37365415 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Consequences of Early Colonial Policies on the East African Economic and Political Integration Matthew Lee Battani A Thesis in the Field of International Relations for the Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies Harvard University November 2020 © 2020 Matthew Lee Battani Abstract Twentieth-century economic integration in East Africa dates back to European initiates in the 1880s. Those policies culminated in the formation of the first East African Community (EAC I) in 1967 between Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The EAC was built on a foundation of integrative polices started by Britain and Germany, who began formal colonization in 1885 as a result of the General Act of the Berlin Conference during the Scramble for Africa. While early colonial polices did foster greater integration, they were limited in important ways. Early colonial integration was bi-lateral in nature and facilitated European monopolies. Early colonial policies did not foster broad economic integration between East Africa’s neighbors or the wider world economy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historical Role of the Corporation in Society
    Journal of the British Academy, 6(s1), 17–47. DOI https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/006s1.017 Posted 17 December 2018; Pre-print posted 31 October 2018. © The British Academy 2018 The historical role of the corporation in society LEONARDO DAVOUDI, CHRISTOPHER McKENNA and ROWENA OLEGARIO Abstract: This article charts the historical role of the corporation in society from antiquity to the present day. Using a broad temporal and transnational approach, it argues that social purpose has been a defining trait of the corporation since the con- cept of legal personhood first appeared in antiquity. The direct connection between incorporation and social purpose formally broke in the 19th century, when countries like the United Kingdom and United States introduced general incorporation laws. Yet many corporations continued to act positively on behalf of society on a voluntary basis, but even as they acted against the interests of workers, consumers, and the environment. This article demonstrates that concerns about corporate power have a long history, and that societies over time have designed a variety of legal systems and forms of corporate governance to address these concerns. Keywords: Corporation, business, social purpose, corporate social responsibility, company, philanthropy, social welfare, charity, business history, economic history. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper charts the historical role of the corporation in society from antiquity to the present day. It argues that, since the dawn of legal personhood, social purpose has been the defining trait of the corporation. This connection was formally broken in the 19th century through general incorporation laws, but many corporations continued to impact society positively on a voluntary basis.
    [Show full text]
  • THE ARCHITECTURE of DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY SHIPS a Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the G
    FIRST SPACES OF COLONIALISM: THE ARCHITECTURE OF DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY SHIPS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Richard John Guy January 2012 © 2012 Richard John Guy FIRST SPACES OF COLONIALISM: THE ARCHITECTURE OF DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY SHIPS Richard John Guy Ph. D. (D.M.A.) (J.S.D) Cornell University 2012 This dissertation is an inquiry into spatial aspects of control, resistance and communication in the Dutch East India Company (VOC), as revealed by the architecture of its ships. The architectural type of the retourschip or “homeward bounder” is described and the history of its development, 1602- 1795 is traced, with special attention paid to the period 1740-1783, when the richest records concerning ship design were produced and the ships reached their most standardized forms. The retourschip was one of the highest technological achievements of its day and was used as an emblem for military and mercantile power by the VOC. The ship’s role and meaning as an armature for the VOC’s ideological constructs is examined. Ships also, in Paul Gilroy’s words, constituted "microcultural, micro-political systems," with their own social and spatial orders. These orders are explored, along with their ideological uses as structuring models for VOC society. Changes to the spatial design of the retourschip through the period of the VOC’s operation are linked to changes in the social structure aboard and to changes in the status of VOC mariners, officers and captains.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution of British Business Forms
    ICAEW MARKET FOUNDATIONS Evolution of British business forms: a historical perspectiveEffective from 1 March 2017 Alexander Fallis EVOLUTION OF BRITISH BUSINESS FORMS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Preface This paper has been commissioned by ICAEW as background for its thought leadership paper Future enterprise: assessing forms of business. In this latest paper we explore how business organisational structures have evolved in a somewhat haphazard fashion to meet the needs and character of society over the ages. For instance, trusts developed in medieval times to protect the interests of absent landowners during the crusades and joint stock companies evolved to provide capital for expensive and risky voyages in the age of exploration. Changes in society’s power structures have also driven development of forms. The paper notes how power and wealth passed from the church, to Crown and aristocracy, to merchants, to industrialists and, ultimately, to the population at large and how this was reflected in certain forms of business, from monasteries to multinational corporations. While forms of business have changed over the ages, many of the underlying concerns for government and for enterprise endure. For instance, in 1776, decades before the advent of the modern limited liability company, Adam Smith identified concerns arising where management is separated from ownership. Much current debate about executive pay, shareholder rights and corporate governance stems from this. The concerns may apply similarly to other forms of business with diffuse ownership such as large mutual societies or the state. The role of the state is itself a matter of general ongoing interest in relation to forms of business.
    [Show full text]
  • British Colonialism in East-Africa During Nineteenth Century
    22 International Journal of Art and Art History, Vol. 1 No. 1, December 2013 British Colonialism in East-Africa during Nineteenth Century Nazifa Rashid1 Abstract Colonialism prevailed in Asia and Africa; in America there was colonialism. It was Great Britain which championed colonialism to an intense degree. Other European countries too had their colonies. After each colony attained independence, it so happened that colonialism was not rooted out, but a new type of colonialism persisted and manifested its primordial characteristics. My main objective is that British colonialism in East-Africa during 19th century’s; which was very much important for the economical causes like slave trade, various spices trade, etc. There are only few studies on the colonial history of British-east Africa. This article contains-how and why British interested there and its effect. It has also described their administrative system at that time. Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, and expansion of colonies in the territory by people from another territory. It is a set of unequal relationships between the colonial power and the colony and often between the colonists and the indigenous population. This idea, mainly, came from the west. Marx said about it-“Colonialism presented capitalism in naked form, stripped of decorous, clothing of European bourgeois society (Marx 1973; 324)”. Colonialism ,Sartre was to add ,also operates in a different temporality from Western capitalism ,in the time of its secondary system ,Fanon in turn would point to differs of temporality within the colonial domain , ‘a time lag’ between the cosmopolitan modernity of the nationalists leader and peasantry.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation
    Durham E-Theses The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation: A Historical Analysis The Development of the Charter up to 1500, the Rise of the Chartered Corporation post 1500, the Decline and Fall of the Charter as a Method of Incorporation in the 19th Century and the Potential for a Resurgence in the 21st Century. BOARDMAN-WESTON, THOMAS,KENNETH,CECIL How to cite: BOARDMAN-WESTON, THOMAS,KENNETH,CECIL (2012) The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation: A Historical Analysis The Development of the Charter up to 1500, the Rise of the Chartered Corporation post 1500, the Decline and Fall of the Charter as a Method of Incorporation in the 19th Century and the Potential for a Resurgence in the 21st Century. , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5572/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 MJUR THESIS SUBMISSION The Rise and Fall of the Chartered Corporation: A Historical Analysis The Development of the Charter up to 1500, the Rise of the Chartered Corporation post 1500, the Decline and Fall of the Charter as a Method of Incorporation in the 19th Century and the Potential for a Resurgence in the 21st Century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Western Question in Greece and Turkey
    THE WESTERN QUESTION IN GREECE AND TURKEY A STUDY IN THE CONTACT OF CIVILISATIONS BY ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE ‘For we are also His offspring’ CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD LONDON · BOMBAY · SYDNEY 1922 TO THE PRESIDENT AND FACULTY OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE FOR GIRLS AT CONSTANTINOPLE THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR AND HIS WIFE IN GRATITUDE FOR THEIR HOSPITALITY AND IN ADMIRATION OF THEIR NEUTRAL-MINDEDNESS IN CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH NEUTRALITY IS ‘HARD AND RARE’ PREFACE THIS book is an attempt to place certain recent events in the Near and Middle East in their historical setting, and to illustrate from them several new features of more enduring importance than the events themselves. It is not a discussion of what the peace-settlement in the East ought to be, for the possibility of imposing a cut-and-dried scheme, if it ever really existed, was destroyed by the landing of the Greek troops at Smyrna in May 1919. At any rate, from that moment the situation resolved itself into a conflict of forces beyond control; the Treaty of Sèvres was still-born; and subsequent conferences and agreements, however imposing, have had and are likely to have no more than a partial and temporary effect. On the other hand, there have been real changes in the attitude of the Western public towards their Governments’ Eastern policies, which have produced corresponding changes in those policies themselves; and the Greeks and Turks have appeared in unfamiliar roles. The Greeks have shown the same unfitness as the Turks for governing a mixed population. The Turks, in their turn, have become exponents of the political nationalism of the West.
    [Show full text]
  • The Deflection of the Monopoly Granted to the WIC, 1600-1800
    A «united force of merchants and denizens»? The deflection of the monopoly granted to the WIC, 1600-1800 Karwan Fatah-Black* INTRODUCTION Why were the attempts at monopoly formation in the Dutch Atlantic deflected and even discontinued at an early stage, despite being important for the military and economic strategy of the Dutch Revolt and subsequent foreign and trade policies of the Dutch Repub- lic1? This chapter suggests that this question should be approached by looking at some of the conflicts that arose as a result of the granting of monopoly rights to the Dutch West India Company. The institutional framework of the company itself was already the result of tensions between formal monopoly formation and the more informal expansion of trad- ing networks by those operating outside scope of the monopoly holding company2. With the expansion of the territory of the company, we should add, metropolitan authority was increasingly challenged by people in its empire overseas3. This last aspect is often glossed over in the Dutch literature due to a peculiar denial of the territorial aspects of the Dutch overseas expansion4. * Leiden University. 1 See for example the introduction of POSTMA & ENTHOVEN, 2003; Although the authors are generally pesimistic about the long term contribution of the Atlantic expansion to the Dutch economy, the conquest of Atlantic domains was regarded as important. VRIES & VAN DER WOUDE, 1997: 396-402; VRIES, 2005: 1-29; OOSTINDIE & ROITMAN, 2012: 129-60. 2 HEIJER, 2005: 45-50. 3 FATAH-BLACK, 2015. 4 EMMER, & KLOOSTER, 1999: 48-69. 145 mechanisms of global empire building The charter granted by the States General provided the WIC with exclusive rights to trade, settle and make treaties in its Atlantic charter area5.
    [Show full text]
  • To the Ottoman Turks
    DECLINE AND FALL OF BYZANTIUM TO THE OTTOMAN TURKS BY DOUKAS An Annotated Translation of "Historia Turco-Byzantine" by Harry I Magoulias, Wayne State University Wayne State University Press Detroit 1975 C y 2Wa.yAn iuersit ess, Detroit,, Micchigan5482 rightsarereserved No part of this book naybe reproduced without formal permission. Library of Congress Catalogingin Publication Data Ducas, fl. 1455. Decline and fall of Byzantium tothe Ottoman Turks. First ed. published under title:Historia Byzantina. Bibliography: P. Includes index. 1. Byzantine Empire History.2. TurkeyHistory-1288-1453 A2D813Magot949.5 Harry 75 9949 itle. DF631 ISBN 0-8143-1540-2 To Ariadne vuvevvoc KaX4 re Kl 7aO7 CONTENTS Chronology 9 Introduction 23 Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks 55 Notes 263 Bibliography 325 Index 331 7 ILLUSTRATIONS Old City of Rhodes 42 John VI Kantakouzenos 43 Manuel II Palaiologos 44 Emperor John VIII Palaiologos 45 Monastery of Brontocheion, Mistra 46 Palace of Despots, Mistra 47 Walls of Constantinople 48 Walls of Constantinople with Moat 49 Mehmed H the Conqueror 50 Emperor Constantine XI 51 MAPS The Byzantine World Before the Fall 1453 52 Greece and Western Anatolia Before the Fall 1453 53 Constantinople 54 8 CHRONOLOGY CHAPTER I page 57 Listing of the years and generations from Adam to the Fourth Crusade, 12 April 1204. CHAPTER II page 59 Reigns of the emperors of Nicaea to the recapture of Constantinople in 1261. Conquests of the Seljuk Turks and appearance of the Ottomans. Reigns of Andronikos II and Michael IX, Andronikos III, John V and John VI Kantakouze- nos. Turks occupy Gallipoli (1354).
    [Show full text]
  • THE MAKING of NORTHERN NIGERIA MACMILLAN and CO., Limited
    ( . rhoA^oU gJiaIMc ^S-^f^'/ / ^. y: sxj&r^ - THE MAKING OF NORTHERN NIGERIA MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO e K^ ^ ^ s 60" Stanford^ Geoffrapf-EsicCbt 1 S\5 ^5 'THE MAKING OF NORTHERN NIGERIA BY CAPTAIN C. W. J. ORR, R.A. LATE POLITICAL DEPARTMENT, NORTHERN NIGERIA WITH MAPS MACMILLAN AND cS^ LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 191 AFRICA. Stanford Geo^rap^SHabf London^ Macmillaii Ss-Co.X*^ COPYRIGHT. PREFACE On the ist of January 1900 the British nation assumed the responsibility of governing the inhabitants of a vast area in the African continent, and entrusted the task to a handful of British officials. Now that more than ten years have passed, it has seemed to me right that those on whom as administrators this task has been imposed, should render some account ot their stewardship. In this book, therefore, I have endeavoured to give a brief history of the manner in which the duty has been performed, and to indicate some of the main problems which have demanded solution. I have spared no pains to se-t out the facts accurately, and with this object I have confined myself to official records, and have based myself mainly on the Annual Reports submitted by the High Commissioner to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, which are printed and presented each year to the Houses of Parliament. I owe a debt of gratitude to Sir George Goldie and the Earl of Scarbrough for materials with which they have kindly provided me for the chapter on Chartered Company Administration.
    [Show full text]