This book investigates the complex legal and corporate evolution of the New River Company from its seventeenth-century inception to its twentieth-century municipalization. Bernard Rudden, a noted legal scholar, utilizes extensive archival records to trace the company's development through the lens of property law, governance, and financial regulation. The text argues that the company's unique legal structure serves as a microcosm for broader shifts in English corporate and public utility law over three centuries.

Experts recognize this work as a highly specialized and technically dense examination of corporate legal history. Readers frequently note that the prose requires a strong background in legal terminology to fully grasp the nuances of the company's financial and administrative evolution.