Cooper

The introduction of commercial freedom led to greater entrepreneurial liberties. Corporate barriers and guilds' structures were revoked: restrictions on production, regulations concerning manufacturing methods and quality were abolished, along with protection from competition. Now it was even possible to register a business without possessing a master's certificate.

Benzenberg describes the situation before the introduction of commercial freedom:
"In the Solingen knife and blade guild, the masters who made knife-blades were not allowed to make sword-blades, and those making blades were not allowed to make the handles. In 1803 when Peres started his factory of English steelware in Solingen, he received permission from the government to combine all the activities in his workshop, to which the other tradesmen objected, because this went against the laws of the guilds. Precisely because the tradesmen had been bound within the guild laws throughout two centuries, their trade had come to a standstill and was overtaken by the workers of other regions. Two years later the guild was dissolved completely and it was left to each master to decide which wares to make and catch up with the times."
(Benzenberg, Johann Friedrich: Über Handel und Gewerbe, Steuern und Zölle, Elberfeld 1819, S. 12f.)

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