Société à responsabilité limitée
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In France and other-French-speaking countries, a société à responsabilité limitée (French pronunciation: [sɔsjete a ʁɛspɔ̃sabilite limite], abbreviated as SARL, S.à r.l. [ɛsaɛʁɛl] ⓘ and roughly translatable in English as "limited liability company") is a type of business corporation whose liability is limited to the amount of capital contributed. It is similar to a partnership (between 2 to 100 people), particularly because the shares of the company are not freely transferable without the agreement of all of some of the shareholders.
The term SARL first arose out of a statute dated May 23, 1863, but at that time, it referred to a form of joint-stock company unrelated to the modern SARL.
The current SARL – having a somewhat ambiguous legal character, for it cannot be strictly classified as either a partnership or a corporation – was developed in Germany as the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftungunder by an 1892 Bill. The SARL has been a legally recognized corporate structure in France since 1925.