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0 pointsquonn1y ago0 comments

I hear this claim a lot but is it really true? Corporations in most countries are „legal persons“ in the sense that they can act like a person. This is what limited liability is all about. In fact the very name „incorporation“ comes from giving a sort of „body“ to an entity that otherwise doesn‘t have one in order to shield the owners from liability as it should be.

I do not think that a corporation is considered to be a person beyond that. It‘s merely a way to establish limited liability for shareholders which requires a mechanism for the corporation to sign contracts without an owner signing on it‘s behalf.

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BiteCode_dev1y ago

They can make investments, sue, go bankrupt, have bank accounts, like a person, in their own name instead of the owner.

robertlagrant1y ago

Can you explain why that matters? Yes a company can have a bank account. A company also has a name, like a person. An age, like a person. But what does that matter?

BiteCode_dev1y ago

We moved the power from the human to something we said is "human enough" to have them. But this thing is a concept, it doesn't exist. It can't die. It can change forms until it doesn't pay taxes. It can't experience pain or go to prison.

Basically, we gave the power to the company without the responsibilities to the humans behind it because there is less consequences, less skin in the game.

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oersted1y ago

Certain laws apply to any person, which includes companies. A company can own things like you own things, and has similar protections. A company is accountable to its promises (contracts, fraud...), like you would be, although punishments might be different.

It's like a union type: `type Person = Human | Company`. Or like inheritance: `class Human(Person)`, `class Company(Person)`. Or a typeclass/trait/interface...

It allows you to reuse many laws for both humans and companies, without having to specify them or define special cases every time it is mentioned.

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0 pointsquonn1y ago0 comments

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BiteCode_dev1y ago

They can make investments, sue, go bankrupt, have bank accounts, like a person, in their own name instead of the owner.

robertlagrant1y ago

Can you explain why that matters? Yes a company can have a bank account. A company also has a name, like a person. An age, like a person. But what does that matter?

BiteCode_dev1y ago

Basically, we gave the power to the company without the responsibilities to the humans behind it because there is less consequences, less skin in the game.

1 more reply

oersted1y ago

It's like a union type: `type Person = Human | Company`. Or like inheritance: `class Human(Person)`, `class Company(Person)`. Or a typeclass/trait/interface...

It allows you to reuse many laws for both humans and companies, without having to specify them or define special cases every time it is mentioned.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse