The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of Wealth

Historical aristocratic families, as economic units, can in some ways be seen as the forerunners of today’s family businesses. These wealthy families had essentially the same or similar issues and needs in terms of wealth transfer, inheritance and succession as today’s family businesses. The entail...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Balázs Arató
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: STS Science Centre Ltd. 2023-11-01
Series:Journal on European History of Law
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journaloneuropeanhistoryoflaw.eu/index.php/JEHL/article/view/184
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849395809326465024
author Balázs Arató
author_facet Balázs Arató
author_sort Balázs Arató
collection DOAJ
description Historical aristocratic families, as economic units, can in some ways be seen as the forerunners of today’s family businesses. These wealthy families had essentially the same or similar issues and needs in terms of wealth transfer, inheritance and succession as today’s family businesses. The entail (fideicommissum) was the technical legal solution, or legal institution, which enabled the historic aristocratic families to preserve their economic strength from generation to generation, to keep their wealth together and to develop their specific succession arrangements which have survived for centuries. However, prior to the legal declaration of the entail, the enforceability was always a question mark, and it is a problem that family businesses today are still faced with in relation to certain legal instruments and technical solutions in the area of succession. This paper will first review the history of the development of family businesses and then examine the legal institution of the entail and its various forms, drawing parallels between the historical aristocratic families and the family businesses of today, based on essentially identical interests and aspirations.
format Article
id doaj-art-e8f60e5117174e7fb095208b7457256b
institution Kabale University
issn 2042-6402
3049-9089
language deu
publishDate 2023-11-01
publisher STS Science Centre Ltd.
record_format Article
series Journal on European History of Law
spelling doaj-art-e8f60e5117174e7fb095208b7457256b2025-08-20T03:39:29ZdeuSTS Science Centre Ltd.Journal on European History of Law2042-64023049-90892023-11-01142The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of WealthBalázs Arató0Department of Commercial and Financial Law/Department of Civil Law, Faculty of Law, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Budapest, Hungary Historical aristocratic families, as economic units, can in some ways be seen as the forerunners of today’s family businesses. These wealthy families had essentially the same or similar issues and needs in terms of wealth transfer, inheritance and succession as today’s family businesses. The entail (fideicommissum) was the technical legal solution, or legal institution, which enabled the historic aristocratic families to preserve their economic strength from generation to generation, to keep their wealth together and to develop their specific succession arrangements which have survived for centuries. However, prior to the legal declaration of the entail, the enforceability was always a question mark, and it is a problem that family businesses today are still faced with in relation to certain legal instruments and technical solutions in the area of succession. This paper will first review the history of the development of family businesses and then examine the legal institution of the entail and its various forms, drawing parallels between the historical aristocratic families and the family businesses of today, based on essentially identical interests and aspirations. https://journaloneuropeanhistoryoflaw.eu/index.php/JEHL/article/view/184historical aristocratic familiesfamily businesssuccessionwealth transfer entail fideicommissum
spellingShingle Balázs Arató
The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of Wealth
Journal on European History of Law
historical aristocratic families
family business
succession
wealth transfer
entail
fideicommissum
title The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of Wealth
title_full The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of Wealth
title_fullStr The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of Wealth
title_full_unstemmed The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of Wealth
title_short The Historical Roots of Family Businesses, the Entail and the Unification of Wealth
title_sort historical roots of family businesses the entail and the unification of wealth
topic historical aristocratic families
family business
succession
wealth transfer
entail
fideicommissum
url https://journaloneuropeanhistoryoflaw.eu/index.php/JEHL/article/view/184
work_keys_str_mv AT balazsarato thehistoricalrootsoffamilybusinessestheentailandtheunificationofwealth
AT balazsarato historicalrootsoffamilybusinessestheentailandtheunificationofwealth