Company lawLesson 1 of 1 in the course Corporate personality and incorporation

Corporate Personhood: Legal Status, Rights, and Political Spending

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Corporate personhood explains how the law can treat an organization as a legal person distinct from the people connected to it. This lesson introduces the basic concept and traces its development from ancient associations to modern corporations.

Corporate personhood, also called juridical personality, is the legal recognition of an entity as having some rights and responsibilities separate from its owners, managers, shareholders, and employees. A corporation is not a human being, but the law can treat it as a distinct legal subject for specific purposes.

All flashcards

Aggregate theory of corporate rights
The view that corporate rights can protect the interests of people associated through the corporation.
Real-entity theory
The view that a corporation is an entity in its own right.
Incorporation
The creation or recognition of a legal entity under a jurisdiction's rules.
Limited liability
The general rule that shareholders are not personally responsible for corporate debts solely because they own shares.
Corporate personhood in India
Legal status that can apply to non-human entities, which act in legal matters through representatives.

Quiz questions

  1. What did the Supreme Court decide in *Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward* (1819)?Answer: The college's corporate charter was a contract protected by the Contract Clause.
  2. What is the significance of the *Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co.* (1886) headnote?Answer: It stated that corporations were covered by equal protection, but it was not part of the Court's opinion.
  3. What did the majority in *Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission* (2010) hold about independent corporate political spending?Answer: It could not be limited under the First Amendment in the circumstances before the Court.
  4. Under the U.S. Dictionary Act's general rule, when do federal statutory references to a “person” include corporations?Answer: Unless the context indicates otherwise.
  5. What does the aggregate theory emphasize when explaining corporate rights?Answer: The people who make up or own the corporation.

Based on the Wikipedia article Corporate personhood, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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