Honest Corporations - The Net's Only Official Resource Directory Of Honest Branded Corporations and Companies.

Corporation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Corporation (disambiguation). "Corporate" redirects here. For other uses, see Corporate (disambiguation). Companies law Basic forms: Sole proprietorship Partnership (General · Limited · LLP) Corporation (LLC · S · C) Cooperative United States: Business trust LLLP · Series LLC Delaware corporation Nevada corporation European Economic Area, including European Union: SE · SCE United Kingdom / Commonwealth / Ireland: Limited company (By shares · By guarantee) (Public · Proprietary) Community interest company Civil law countries: AB · AG · ANS · A/S · AS K.K. · N.V. · OY · S.A. · GmbH Doctrines Corporate governance Limited liability · Ultra vires Business judgment rule Internal affairs doctrine De facto corporation and corporation by estoppel Piercing the corporate veil Rochdale Principles Related areas of law Contract · Civil procedure A corporation is a legal entity (technically, a juristic person) which has a legal personality distinct from those of its members. The defining legal rights and obligations of a corporation consist of the capacities (i) to sue and to be sued, (ii) to have assets, (iii) to employ agents, (iv) to engage in contracts, and (v) to make by-laws governing its internal affairs.[1] Other legal rights and obligations may be assigned to the corporation by governments or courts. These are often controversial.[2] Stewart Kyd, the author of the first treatise on corporate law in English, defined a corporation as "a collection of many individuals united into one body, under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested, by policy of the law, with the capacity of acting, in several respects, as an individual, particularly of taking and granting property, of contracting obligations, and of suing and being sued, of enjoying privileges and immunities in common, and of exercising a variety of political rights, more or less extensive, according to the design of its institution, or the powers conferred upon it, either at the time of its creation, or at any subsequent period of its existence."[citation needed] Currently, the modern business corporation is the dominant type of corporation. In addition to its legal personality, the modern business corporation has at least three other legal characteristics: (i) transferable shares (shareholders can change without affecting its status as a legal entity), (ii) perpetual succession capacity (its possible continued existence despite shareholders' death or withdrawal), (iii) and limited liability (including, but not limited to: the shareholders' limited responsibility for corporate debt, insulation from judgments against the corporation, shareholders' amnesty from criminal actions of the corporation, and, in some jurisdictions, limited liability for corporate officers and directors from criminal acts by the corporation).[3] The modern business corporation's prevalence often obscures the fact that for years other corporate entities existed, before the emergence of the modern business corporation, for example, church, educational and charity corporations. Investors and entrepreneurs often form joint stock companies and then incorporated them to facilitate conducting business; as this business entity now is prevalent, the term corporation often is used to specifically refer to such business corporations. Corporations may also be formed for local government (municipal corporation), political, religious, and charitable purposes (not-for-profit corporation), or for government programs (government-owned corporation). As a generic legal term, 'corporation' means any group of persons with a legal personality. Historically, the modern business corporation emerged from the blending of the traditional corporation with the joint-stock company.