Instructions not included: Spain's Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, 1919-1936

Abstract

In 1919 Spain introduced the Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL), an enterprise form combining elements of the partnership and the corporation. An unusual feature of the Spanish Commercial Code allowed the Justice Ministry to authorize the form by fiat. The SRL did not have a statutory basis until 1953 Thus SRLs formed between 1919 and 1953 relied on other sources for their rules. These early SRLs had distinctive ownership, governance, and capital-structure patterns. Most entrepreneurs creating SRLs modeled their firms on partnerships, but some pushed the form in the corporation's direction.