本文主要討論臺灣總督府在統治前期建立近代公司相關法制之政策變遷過程。臺灣傳統習慣上使用合股方式籌集資本經營工商業，在一八六○年代初期，臺灣正式開港後，商人們和西方貿易時有接觸，認識了近代公司，開始倣效，並將「公司」一詞放入合股商號名稱中。一八九五年割讓給日本後又努力理解日本的「商法」，也開始出現將「會社」放入合股商號名稱中者，對近代公司制度，表現相當高度的興趣與接受度。相反地，政府方面，導入近代公司制度之熱忱似乎遠落於民眾之後。在臺灣割讓給日本之前，清朝統治者並未認識西方近代公司制度之價值；一八九五年日本領有臺灣之後，也並未將日本明治維新時積極導入西方近代公司之經驗延伸到臺灣。 近代公司制度和傳統合股之最大不同，在於其需要政府立法管理監督，保障投資者之安全，始能發揮其功能。在法制面，臺灣總督府傾向公臺灣合股舊慣管理臺灣人之企業組織；一九○九年開始依合股舊慣制定「臺灣合股令」，並進而在一九一二年以府令限制臺灣使用「會社」一詞。不過，依舊慣制定之「臺灣合股令」並未取得日本中央政府之同意；一九二三年因統治政策之需求，在臺灣進行法制改革，讓臺灣人適用日本「商法」，納入法律下管理。

This essay discusses the changes of the Government-General’s policies related to the establishment of the modern corporation law (近代公司法制), during early Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan. in traditional Taiwanese society, capital was raised mainly through joint-stock partnership (合股方式). After the opening of coastal ports to foreigners in the early 1860s, the merits of modern corporate organization (近代公司) were recognized by the local business sector through trading with the West. They therefore began to imitate the modern corporate system, (近代公司制度) and the term ‘company’ was used for their joint-stock commercial firms (合股商號). After Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, businesspersons were quick to take up Japanese merchant law (商法), and started to adopt the term hui-sher or kai-sha (會社) for their firms. This represented their interest in and acceptance of the modern-company system. On the contrary, the government was less enthusiastic than the business circles in introducing the modern-company system. The Qing (Ch’ing was used in the abstract by Hung) Dynasty did not acknowledge the merits of the Western company system. The Japanese colonial government also placed little emphasis on introducing the modern corporate system, a situation contrary to the policies during Meiji Restoration in the Japan proper. The main difference between the modern-company system and the traditional joint-stock firms was that the functioning of the former required government legislation to protect the interests of the investors. In the early stages, the Japanese Government-General tended to manage Taiwanese enterprises through joint-stock partnership. Starting in 1909, and executive order to Taiwanese corporation 「臺灣合股令」was issued, and in 1912 Taiwanese enterprises were restricted to used the term 「會社」for their firms by the order of the Government-General, (府令). Nevertheless, 「臺灣合股令」, with its basis on joint-stock partnership, did not gain the approval of the Japanese central government, and in 1923 the legal reform in the colony made Japanese merchant law applicable in Taiwan. Thereafter, Taiwanese commercial organizations were governed by Japanese merchant law.