Archipelago Capitalism: Tax Havens, Offshore Money, and the State, 1950s–1970s

Abstract

BRITISH HOUSE OF LORDS heard a legal case that would have important implications for matters of international taxation in the following decades. De Beers Consolidated Mines, founded in South Africa in 1888 by British business magnate Cecil Rhodes, had been formed under South African law, and its head offices and mining activities were at Kimberley, South Africa, where, moreover, all general meetings were held. Yet, as the Lords argued in their decision, the "directors'" meeting still took place in London, and therefore this was where the real control was exercised, where important business decisions were made. Even though De Beers