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This volume deals with issues of widespread interest including, the origins of investor rights in different markets, the political, legal and economic conditions that determine levels of shareholder participation, and the implications of variation in investor rights.

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Introduction: Shareholder Advocacy: Historical Bedrock of Corporate Governance J.Koppell, et al DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE SHAREHOLDER AS AGGRIEVED PARTY Putting Le Maire into Perspective: Business Organization and the Evolution of Corporate Governance in the Dutch Republic, 1590-1640; A.de Jong, O.Gelderblom, & J.Jonker Shareholder Activists Avant La Lettre: The ´Complaining Participants´ in the Dutch East India Company; J.Matthijs de Jongh The Great Expropriation: Understanding the Innovation of Permanent Capital in the Dutch and English East India Companies; A.Von Nordenflycht OVERCOMING THE AGENCY CHALLENGE OF EARLY GLOBAL TRADE The Rise and Fall of the Rishengchang Bank Model: Limiting Shareholder Influence to Attract Capital; R.Morck & F.Young Institutions, Information, and Contracts: From Debt to Equity in Late Medieval Venice; Y.Gonzalez de Lara Shareholders´ Rights in the Early Italian Companies: Agency Problems and Legal Strategies; C.Malberti Compagnie des Indes, Governance and Bailout; R.Dibadj Shareholder Activism in the Virginia Company of London, 1606 - 1624; T.W.Hall SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS AND THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMIES Corporate Governance and Stockholder/Stakeholder Activism in the United States, 1790-1860: New Data and Perspectives; R.Sylla & R.E.Wright Origins of ´Offensive´ Shareholder Activism in the United States; J.H.Armour & B.R.Cheffins Contemporary Issues in Shareholder Advocacy; S.Davis

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"This interesting collection of essays provides stimulating linkage from the origins of shareholding in the Dutch East India company over 400 years ago to the controversies in our era over executive pay, shareholder rights, and the workings of corporate governance. The chapters enlighten us about past , present and where to go in the future." - Peter Gourevitch, Professor, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego, and co-author of Political Power and Corporate Control

"This is a fascinating collection of papers on the early evolution of the corporation and shareholder advocacy. The carefully researched descriptions of the introduction of corporate governance in different parts of the world appreciably extend our understanding of the evolution of the corporation and provide important insights into modern corporate governance debates." - Professor Colin Mayer, Peter Moores Dean, Said Business School, University of Oxford

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JONATHON G.S. KOPPELL Associate of Professor of Politics and Management at the Yale School of Management, USA, where he previously directed the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance. He is the author of World Rule and The Politics of Quasi-Government.

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