This paper examines the evolution of the legal foundation under which commercial banks operated in different countries. The earliest incorporated banks were established under charters issued by sovereigns or legislatures. Subsequently, charters were issued: (1) though corporation law; or (2) via special banking codes. Countries that concentrated their note issues in central banks earlier were less in need of detailed banking codes and were, therefore, more likely to have allowed banks to operate under general corporation laws. By contrast, countries in which note issue was not centralised were more likely to have established a detailed banking code.

Count Mollien, councillor and Minister of the Treasury of Napoléon, was at the same time a theorist who extended Adam Smith's analysis of banknotes and a man of action who worked with success on the application of his ideas. He showed that the solidity of the banknotes relied on the quality of the discounted bills when they are put into circulation, and rejected the risk of excessive issue, thereby disseminating the real bills doctrine in France. Furthermore, he studied the conditions in which the issue should take place and put forward some proposals that led to the organisation of the working rules of Banque de France.

As a result of legislation in 1855, 1856 and 1862 that effectively enabled limited liability companies to be formed with minimum difficulty for the first time, there was an explosion of new companies. However, after the collapse of Overend, Gurney Ltd in 1866 they became unpopular. This paper examines the case of a business which failed to raise the necessary funding because of suspicion of exaggerated claims made in public prospectuses and the ways in which it attempted to survive. This gypsum industry case history also illustrates the problems facing the new class of ‘pure’ investors and directors who had little understanding of the industry in which their company was operating and the nature and reliability of the financial information available to them required for their decision-making.

In Switzerland, finance companies constituted the business group with the largest accumulation of capital of all joint-stock companies. This development began during the 1860s with respect to investment in gas, and accelerated from 1875 as a result of the activities of syndicates combining Swiss and foreign banks, first, in railways and, from the 1890s, in electricity. During the period 1910-14, domestic holding companies were established to aid the major Swiss industries of textiles, food and mechanical engineering. However, over the interwar years, international forces were once more dominant, leading to the establishment of both giant holding companies (related to the petrol and chemical industries), and small-scale companies, linked with capital flight to Switzerland.

This bibliography covers publications that appeared during 1999. It follows previous criteria, being divided into two broad areas: general literature in financial history in section 1, and specialised material in section 2. Section 2 is subdivided chronologically and, further, by geographical area (the complete classification scheme was published in Volume 1, Part 2, October 1994, pp. 157–60.) Where there are no entries for a particular section, the heading has been omitted. Abbreviations have been kept to a minimum, but standard abbreviations such as J. for Journal, Q. for Quarterly, or Rev. for Review/Revue, have been used throughout. Short titles are used for references to edited volumes within the section in which they are listed; elsewhere they are cited in full. Articles published in books ‘edited by’ are mentioned only if the bibliographer accessed the index of the book before the deadline of the publication. Doctoral theses and Working Papers are not included.