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.
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...