3 ms·
You're misunderstanding what corporate personhood means. The concept itself is over 2000 years old, and is baked into the laws of most countries in some form or
by ch4s3 4y ago
You're misunderstanding what corporate personhood means. The concept itself is over 2000 years old, and is baked into the laws of most countries in some form or another. It basically means that companies that are not sole proprietorships can enter into contracts, be sued in court, and have some other rights and responsibilities like a literal person under the law.
To quote the supreme court from Pembina Consolidated Silver Mining Co. v. Pennsylvania (1888):
> "Under the designation of 'person' there is no doubt that a private corporation is included [in the Fourteenth Amendment]. Such corporations are merely associations of individuals united for a special purpose and permitted to do business under a particular name and have a succession of members without dissolution."
Clearly an associations of individuals should have more or less the same rights they have individually when they come together. The right to association is at the beginning of the bill of rights.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago> Clearly an associations of individuals should have more or less the same rights they have individually when they come together. If that's the case, then why does the formation of the corporation occur at all? It's not about "easier bookkeeping", it's because the corporation's existence shields its owners from individual liability. That's why it exists, rather than just non-corporate agglomerations of individuals. The corporation itself is a new legal entity, whose existence changes the legal culpability of the owners, and because of that, it makes perfect sense to me that while the owners would not lose their individual rights by forming a corporation, neither do they cede or grant those individual rights to the corporation.
- ch4s3 4y agoThey also exist for the purpose of continuity beyond the tenure of any individual owner or member. > The corporation itself is a new legal entity Yes clearly. > neither do they cede or grant those individual rights to the corporation I'm sure you would agree that corporations can enter into contracts. This is an individual right granted to corporations. They also have due process rights, unless you think governments should be able to arbitrarily intervene in their affairs. Due process is an individual right granted to corporations. Corporations can sue or be sued in courts of law, again this is an individual right/responsibility. These are all practical things. It would be unwieldy for owners to all have to be individually party to any contract or suit, especially in cases where ownership is distributed through stock. The legal fiction arises out of practicality, centuries of history, and collective exercise of individual rights(as owners of a corporation we all own X, or enter into contract with Y).