Partrederiet i 1667 års sjölag och idag 185 Summary The shipping partnership in the 1667 Swedish Maritime Code and today The shipping partnership represents an old corporate form through which shipping business has been conducted in Sweden over hundreds of years. Evidence of its existence in Scandinavia dates back from the tenth century. Although its importance as a desirable business form has decreased since the middle of the nineteenth century due to the development of other corporate forms, capable of responding to the differential needs of the shipping industry, it would be unfair to say that the shipping partnership has lost its standing. The considerations for selecting a certain corporate or other legal form of doing business in shipping vary and will continue to vary due to changes in the society and its economic and social structure. At present the shipping partnership sees something like a revival and the number of shipping partnerships and the tonnage involved is perpetually increasing. In this article the development of the shipping partnership is treated in a 300 years perspective, viz. from the legal regulation in the Swedish Maritime Code of 1667 to the regulation in the present Maritime Code. One of the findings is that the law governing this business form has undergone only minor alterations and amendments during the time that has passed between the two Codes. Several of the legal attributes of a shipping partnership, viz. the focus on a single vessel, the personal liability pro rata parte of each partowner for obligations of the partnership, the liability of each partowner to onstribute to the expenses for the activities of the business in proportion to his share in the vessel and the right of each partowner to freely transfer his share in the vessel, were fully developed already at the time of the 1667 Code. Thus, the legal foundation of this ancient business form was laid in the 1667 Code and the Code represents an important milestone in the development of Swedish maritime law. Another important point of view that is being discussed in the article is the continously demand of today’s shipping industry to have access to the shipping partnership form as an alternative to other corporate forms available for conducting shipping business. Although there is within the Swedish legislative system a constant aim at harmonizing the corporate legislation and quite a number of reasons speak in favour of conforming the shipping partnership under one or the other of the existing corporate forms, the legislator has recently decided to let the shipping partnership continue to fullfil its important function as a means of attracting risk-bearing capital. The article shows how this form of doing business in shipping is capable of adapting to the changing needs of capital and of bringing about the spreading of risk that is essential in today’s investments within the shipping industry.
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