Formation of a joint-stock company with limited liability by the now familiar process of registration under general statutes had been forbidden in England by the Bubble Act of 1720; later it was a carefully guarded bureaucratic concession; and only after the middle of the nineteenth century did it become a matter of general right. The course of the change in public opinion and in law is described by Dr. Hunt in a way that throws new light upon the history of English industry and commerce. For a complete understanding of this important period in English business history one should follow his account of the protracted struggle to secure genuine freedom of incorporation. His broad treatment of a problem that might seem narrow and technical will thus be of value to all who are interested in the structure of business.