This chapter examines the emergence of the CCMCE, a legal/structural innovation that transformed the multinational firm into a constellation of legally separate but operationally unified corporate entities. Tracing its origins to the late nineteenth century, the CCMCE emerged from evolving doctrines of corporate personhood, limited liability, and the state’s adoption of territorial sovereignty as a legal principle. The pivotal shift occurred with New Jersey’s holding company laws (1888–96), enabling corporations to own other corporations and organize control through pyramidal structures. Combined with the formal recognition of intangible property – such as goodwill and future income streams – this model allowed firms to optimize control, risk, and regulatory positioning across jurisdictions. The CCMCE’s international diffusion, initially driven by practical business needs, soon enabled new forms of jurisdictional arbitrage, as corporate groups leveraged legal fragmentation to separate tangible operations from regulatory liabilities. By embedding the firm in a network of legally autonomous subsidiaries, the CCMCE model created opportunities to exploit the ‘law of two prices’ and selectively engage national regulatory regimes.