賠償責任の転嫁について : 出資者の有限責任に関する倫理学的試論(自由論題)

抄録

This paper examines the framework of limited liability for stockholders from the ethical viewpoint. The legal system of limited liability was established in the 19th century, and, since then, capital societies have applied it to the joint-stock company as the rule for stockholders. The creation of this legal system has already been elaborately researched in economic history. Indeed, this paper draws upon this body of work, but it focuses not on the establishment of the legal system but on an earlier development, namely, the change in the ethical basis of the partnership between stockholders and managers from the principle of solidarity to that of self-responsibility. The solidarity principle formally attributed full-liability to both stockholders and managers in a partnership. However, with the introduction of the self-responsibility principle, a conceptual shift that occurred before the constitution of limited liability as a legal principle, liability became differentiated between stockholders and managers according to their respective roles in the company as property owners and management. Therefore, one must conclude that ethical principles, in fact, control attributions of liability in the joint-stock company.