The statute 6 Geo. I. c. 18, “for restraining several extravagant and unwarrantable practices herein mentioned," was so called. It prescribed penalties for the formation of companies with little or no cap-ital, with the intention, by means of allur-ing advertisements, of obtaining money from the public by the sale of shares. Such un-dertakings were then commonly called “buh-bles." This legislation was prompted by the collapse of the “South Sea Project,” which, as Blackstone says, “had beggared half the nation.” It was mostly repealed by the stat-ute 6 Geo. IV. c. 91
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
