Victorian share-pricing - a problem in thin trading

This paper discusses the problems of nineteenth century share valuation and corporate governance. It is based on the summary of a 1900 appeal case, The Earl of Portsmouth v. Pease (1900), which was recorded in the Durham press and concerned the sale of shares within a local private family company in 1898. This contract was overturned in the Court of Chancery as being inequitable. The methods and assumptions employed to value the shares for the private family sale and a coincident public issue were described in detail; the effect of the case was dramatic and the issues raised are still relevant.