Corporate personhood is older than America. Without legal personhood, how do corporations own anything? They've always been treated like legal persons, because

Corporate personhood is older than America. Without legal personhood, how do corporations own anything? They've always been treated like legal persons, because that's sort of what corporations are for. They're legal entities that can own stuff and do some things, like hiring people and buying and selling. That doesn't work without them in some sense being treated like persons in the eyes of the law. What they're not are natural persons. Exactly how many legal rights corporations should have is a very good question, of course. But people get bent out of shape about corporate personhood as if it's new or particularly Orwellian. (Governments have always been legal persons- you can sue the government in court- if it lets you- and the government can sue you. The government owns property, pays salaries, and so on.)