Accountability of Early Western Australian Banks (1837-1880)

Abstract

Employing legal origin theory, the study examined colonial institutional and legislative influences on financial accountability in early Western Australian (WA) banks. Direct transplants of legislative accountability were traced to transplants from Britain. These align with legal origin theory, whereby the coloniser transplants legislation to its colony. Findings also revealed how early WA banking legislation indirectly embodied international constructs of accountability from other transnational precedents such as from the United States (US) and Canada.