An Historical Development of the Contract Theory in the Dartmouth College Case

Authors

R. N. Denham Jr.

Abstract

The theory enunciated in the famous Dartmouth College Case may be said to date back to the very beginnings of corporations. Just when were the beginnings of corporations and corporation law is, however, a question that has long been a much mooted one, some claiming that they were not known until the middle ages, while others put their inception as far back as the time of Solon in Greece; still others name Numa as the true founder of corporations, by reason of his classification of the Romans into societies according to the manual trade each followed, but the first really authentic source of information we have on the subject of corporation law, is found in the Institutes of Justinian-A. D. 533- wherein the whole law seems to be laid down as settled and well crystallized, in fact, so well crystallized that many of the rules there stated are the ground work of our system today.

Recommended Citation

R. N. Denham Jr., An Historical Development of the Contract Theory in the Dartmouth College Case, 7 Mich. L. Rev. 201 (1909).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol7/iss3/1