Enterprise and Society Advance Access originally published online on January 9, 2007
Enterprise and Society 2007 8(1):35-67; doi:10.1093/es/khl070
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Property Rights, Family, and Business Partnership in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Brazil: The Case of the St. John d'el Rey Mining Company, 1834–1960
Department of History, Rutgers University, 16 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
triner{at}ix.netcom.com
This article uses a case study to illustrate the dynamics of firm structure and property rights in Brazil during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The St. John d'el Rey Mining Company was a British mining company in Brazil. Its experiences demonstrate that, property rights were not under-specified; they were over-specified and varying provisions for rights were mutually inconsistent. Precise laws protected capital investment to such an extent that dissolving partnerships became problematic. At the same time, inheritance laws mandated partible division of personal estates among heirs. The mining company's history demonstrates the opportunities for posthumously emerged heirs, essentially, to claim partnership rights.
This article was made possible because of the generosity of the AngloGold Ashanti Company, Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Company allowed me access to their official archives as well as to the archival files of the Estates Department. Victor Rodrigues was especially helpful in explaining the archives and the Company's history and in offering pleasant companionship through days of archival research. Mary Gill was graciously instrumental in arranging both access to the archives and the conditions to stay at the mine. Douglas Cole Libby and Marshall Eakin offered much guidance and background material from their own work. Sérgio Birchal also contributed his expertise. Comments from participants of the Business History Conference (June 2004; Le Creusot, France) and from a close reading by Mónica Dantas have improved the article. Tamara Swedberg provided the graphics for figure 2. An earlier version of this article has appeared in the on-line proceedings of the 2004 Business History Conference: Business and Economic History On-Line, volume 2, 2004.