Corporation

For other uses, see Corporation (disambiguation).

“Corporate” redirects here. For other uses, see Corporate (disambiguation).

Companies law
Basic forms:
Sole proprietorship
Corporation
Partnership (General · Limited · LLP)
Cooperative
USA:
Business trust · LLC · LLLP Series LLC Delaware corporation Nevada corporation
United Kingdom / Commonwealth / Ireland:
Limited company (By shares · By guarantee) (Public · Proprietary)
Civil law countries:
AB · AG · ANS · A/S · AS
K.K. · N.V. · OY · S.A. · GmbH
European Company Statute
Doctrines
Corporate governance
Limited liability · Ultra vires
Business judgment rule
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 separate legal personality from its members.

The defining legal rights and obligations of the corporation are: (i) the ability to sue and be sued; (ii) the ability to hold assets in its own name; (iii) the ability to hire agents; (iv) the ability to sign contracts; and (v) the ability to make by-laws, which govern 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."