The UK didn't have limited liability corporations on a significant scale until 1855, when the procedures for incorporation were greatly simplified. However, continental nations did have LLCs much before Britain did: France had the societies en commandite which granted limited liability protection to the "silent partners" in a partnership. These were derived from the medieval Italian commenda contracts, which had similar provisions to protect silent partners, leaving full liability to the active partners.

The British reluctance to countenance LLCs arose from the South Sea Bubble of 1720, after which Parliament passed the Bubble Act made it very hard for any small firm to incorporate (it required an act of Parliament to do so). The Bubble Act was not repealed until 1825. The acts that basically created the modern corporation were the Joint Stock Companies Act and the Limited Liability Act, which were passed as a result of the 1852 Mercantile Law Commission's recommendations.

In this case was able to use Google to find out what I don't know, because I know enough economics to be able to pick out the right keywords and filter out kookage. I got most of this with the keywords "economic history", "South Sea Bubble" and "limited liability".

In Vernor Vinge's _Marooned in Realtime_, there's a bit when one of the characters is deprived of her computer link, and then realizes she is no longer an expert at a subject simply by remembering its name. Obviously, we're not at that point yet, but the Web can definitely turn familiarity into knowledge.

You know, a computerized fact-checker (like a spelling or grammar checker) would be an amazingly cool application. Think what it could do to political debate. Or Usenet. :)