ABSTRACT
The preceding passage from the 1693 ‘Act for Encouraging of Forraigne Trade’ succinctly sets out the reasons why an early modern state – in this case, Scotland – would choose to charter a joint-stock trading company. What the Scottish legislators wanted, and wanted quickly, was a homegrown Atlantic trading system that could rival England’s already-established oceanic commerce. The ‘Company of Scotland tradeing to Affrica and the Indies’, as it was dubbed in a further piece of establishing legislation in 1695, seemed to offer just such a shortcut to commercial empire due to three special capabilities of joint-stock companies.
