In law, a corporation is a civil or political body in which are vested certain rights or privileges with a view to their preservation in perpetual succession, authorized by law to act as one person and having rights and liabilities distinct from the individuals forming the corporation. The artificial personality may be created by royal charter, statute, or common law. The most important type is the registered company formed under the Companies Act.. A corporation may consist of one person only and his successors, when it is called sole (the sovereign of Britain for example); or of a number of persons, when it is called aggregate. When a corporation is vested in a single person, that person is looked upon in regard to the rights of the corporation as holding a representative or official position, and these rights belong to and are transmitted by him in virtue of this position, and not as natural rights.
In like manner the rights and powers of an aggregate corporation do not consist of the natural rights of the members, but of the rights held and duly exercised by the terms of the corporation. The legal divisions of corporations in England are into spiritual, intended to perpetuate the rights of the church; and lay, instituted for temporal purposes. The latter include municipal corporations, or the corporations of municipal boroughs, universities, corporations established for the administration of charitable funds, as hospitals, colleges in universities, etc. Corporations are created either by a charter from the sovereign, by act of parliament, or by prescription. Joint-stock companies are a species of corporations.
Corporations can hold property, carry on business, bring legal actions, etc, in their own name. Their actions may, however, be limited by the doctrine of ultra vires. Research Corporation
Abbreviations
Money
Research Corporation