Setting the Scene
During the latter part of the nineteenth century, international lawyers begin to conceive themselves as part of a modern discipline of law. This chapter returns to the debate over the legitimacy of the operation of chartered companies in Africa during this period. The dissolution of the charters towards the end of the century was reflected in the suspension of the debate over companies in international legal commentaries for almost a century. The silence following international lawyers’ active critique over the chartered companies could be conceived as a testament to the irrelevance of international legal ideas, institutions, and practices to the history of private business corporations in colonial and other global settings. This chapter argues against such an interpretation and unravels the relevance of international law to economic actors by analysing this episode from the vantage point of the Royal Niger Company operations in Africa. I argue that the dissolution of the charters did not represent a failure, as previously thought, but rather a multifaceted transformation through which the relationship between economic agents and governmental agents was renegotiated. Further, I assert that while material conditions are crucial to understanding the chronicle of the Charter’s dissolution, international law is pivotal to unraveling the contours of the alliance that replaced them.