The Corporation as a Legal Entity

I- Introduction

A. What is a corporation?

A corporation is a juristic person with a separated legal persona, or individual, from its members. (Corporation, Wikipedia) The law allows a group of natural persons, human beings, to act as a legal person for limited purposes such as lawsuits, property ownerships and contracts. (Juristic person, Wikipedia) A corporation has legal rights and duties just like a natural person. Even though a corporation is considered an individual there are some limitations. (Juristic person, Wikipedia) Corporations cannot marry, vote or hold public office. In the past governments would give corporate charters or licenses so that corporations could exist. (Juristic person, Wikipedia) These corporate charters were limited to a set number of years and could be renewed by a legislature or the corporation in question would simply dissolve at the expiration date. (Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States) The government closely regulated corporations; the corporation charter could be rapidly revoked for violating the law. Also governments granted shareholders the right to remove directors at will. (Our Hidden