Editing Dividend (section)

==History==
{{Further|Financial history of the Dutch Republic|Dutch East India Company}}
The [[Dutch East India Company]] (VOC) was the first recorded (public) company to pay regular dividends.<ref>Freedman, Roy S.: ''Introduction to Financial Technology''. (Academic Press, 2006, {{ISBN|0123704782}})</ref><ref>[[DK Publishing|DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)]]: ''The Business Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained)''. (2014, {{ISBN|1465415858}})</ref> The VOC paid annual dividends worth around 18 percent of the value of the shares for almost 200 years of existence (1602–1800).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mondovisione.com/exchanges/handbook-articles/who-needs-stock-exchanges/ |author=Chambers, Clem |title=Who needs stock exchanges? |publisher=Mondo Visione |date=14 July 2006 |access-date=14 May 2017 }}</ref>

In [[common law jurisdictions]], courts have typically refused to intervene in companies' dividend policies, giving directors wide discretion as to the declaration or payment of dividends. The principle of non-interference was established in the Canadian case of ''Burland v Earle'' (1902), the British case of ''Bond v Barrow Haematite Steel Co'' (1902), and the Australian case of ''[[Miles v Sydney Meat-Preserving Co Ltd]]'' (1912). However in ''Sumiseki Materials Co Ltd v Wambo Coal Pty Ltd'' (2013) the [[Supreme Court of New South Wales]] broke with this precedent and recognised a shareholder's contractual right to a dividend.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305379599 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120092531/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean-Plessis/publication/305379599_A_shareholder's_contractual_right_to_a_dividend_and_a_company's_oppressive_conduct_in_withholding_dividend_payments_Sumiseki_Materials_Co_Ltd_v_Wambo_Coal_Pty_Ltd/links/57cd6f7208ae89cd1e8b4ac6/A-shareholders-contractual-right-to-a-dividend-and-a-companys-oppressive-conduct-in-withholding-dividend-payments-Sumiseki-Materials-Co-Ltd-v-Wambo-Coal-Pty-Ltd.pdf |archive-date=20 November 2022 |url-status=live|title=A shareholder's contractual right to a dividend and a company's oppressive conduct in withholding dividend payments: Sumiseki Materials Co Ltd v Wambo Coal Pty Ltd|first1= Jean|last1=du Plessis|first2=Stephen|last2=Alevras|journal=Companies and Securities Law Journal|volume=32|year=2014}}</ref>