Bazacle Milling Company

The Honor del Bazacle, or Bazacle Milling Company of Toulouse France is Europes oldest corporation. Incorporated in 1372 by merging 12 smaller mill companies, the Bazacle Milling Company survived as a public company until 1946 when it was nationalized as part of the French electricity company.

The Bazacle mills started out as barges that floated in the river using the current of the flowing water to turn mills to mill grain. Eventually after disasters, Mills were built on the banks of the Garonne River in Toulouse that used a water wheel to turn the mills.

What is truly amazing about this corporation was Toulouse's legal structure and treatment of corporations. The Bazacle Milling Company could have ownership separate from the share holders of the company. This was a form of limited liability protecting the share holders allowing the company to own property and write contracts in its name.

While in times of crisis for example when a flood took out the mill, the company would require funding from the share holders and if they could not supply funding, they would have to sell their shares.

Read more about the Bazacle Milling Company.