Limited Liability In Historical Perspective (1997) [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

Limited Liability In Historical Perspective (1997) [pdf]

scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu

15 pointsgradus_ad6 comments

I suspect that this is the original source: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?art... (PDF)

Changed from https://www.kjmlaw.com/merchants-slaves-peculium-history-llc... above. Thanks!

Even in ancient times, it started with slavery and the boss got away with limiting his losses: LOL..

"If ... the slave (or the son) incurred debts or liabilities, the merchant was only responsible to the extent of the peculium"

That's the beginning of the law of agency. "The law of principal and agent deals with the imposition upon one of legal consequences for an act done, in whole or in part, by another..." (Tiffany on Agency, 1902 [1]) People involved with agentic AI might start reading up on how "agency" works in legal terms. It's all about who is responsible for what, which is becoming important in AI.

LLCs and corporations are firewalls for the liability imposed by agency. Agency law thus underlies the limited liability part of corporate law. Without agency law, corporate law doesn't do much.

The law of agency is derived from the law of master and servant, which is in turn derived from Roman slavery law. Roman slavery law was more like indentured servitude than racial slavery - people could be sold into slavery for debts, and could potentially buy their way out or be freed. Slaves were low-level employees with poor employee rights, but could have some authority.

[1] https://archive.org/details/handbookoflawofp0000fran/page/n2...

No kidding, It was the beginning of corporate hacking. Everything has a beginning. It has worked for those with capital. It is a firewall to allow the boss aka capital to create a business and no matter what type of consequence, they would avoid responsibility pretty much. Firewall means that the fire will stay on the other side to protect the boss and everyone else is expendable. If there was a toxic pollution, he walks. If the customers get injured, no problem. It is a sweet deal, if it works, the boss will fill up his pocket and if it fails or damages other people's lives , good luck to the losers and the unpaid servants take the bag. Capital wins the day.

And if you are connecting it to Ai; Ai = Capital ; and no matter what Ai does, it will be no consequences to the bosses. Well again no kidding. It has been planned that way.

Also.. Ai=Slave labor because it stole people's work at no cost.

So lets summarize :

   Ai= Capital = Corp

   Free labor = stolen work that it processed and became its knowledge

   Consequences to = Labor

   Profit to = Corp

Same old same old since roman empire.. It is hilarious, don't you think

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