The strange part is that's pretty much where the corporation started-a broader bottom line. The early corporations of Europe were not businesses but literally embodiments of social stability and cohesion-monasteries and universities, boroughs and guilds. They reconciled individual behavior with larger social ends. Only in the last century did this connection unravel. To piece it together again, we need to understand that the original business corporations in the United States grew out of a bargain.
Individual responsibility is a bedrock principle of common law.
Owners were once personally responsible for the activities of the business, including the employees who toiled on their behalf Your employee fouled a neighbor's well, the neighbor could sue you. That principle endured for centuries, but it broke down as business ventures grew in scale. When the British Crown sought to explore the New World, for example, few would put up capital if they could be personally on the line if something went wrong-a shipwreck, say. In today's terms, it would be like getting sued for the Valdez oil spill because you owned a hundred shares of Exxon stock. To resolve this impasse, the Crown established the principle of limited liability for investor-owners.