"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
Ed Huntress writes:

Corporations exist because they provide
an economic benefit to the society as a whole. They have no "rights,"
only priviledges and permissions.

Cmon. Corporations may be a kind of legal fiction, but there is
nevertheless a natural law aspect to them, not just economic expedience.
A
group of people freely choosing to act in concert should have some of the
rights of those group members as individuals, and have the ability to
restrict the sphere of activity (both overt actions and liability) to the
chartered purpose.

What's the "natural law aspect" by which their liability is limited to their
investments? In the rest of law, natural or otherwise, every individual who
is an owner is liable.

Can you imagine the effect on equity investments in general if the
stockholders of Enron were individually liable for the company's losses?
That's what the special legal protections of corporations are all about.
They're granted because the economic activity brought on by reduced-risk
investment is beneficial to the whole society.

Ed Huntress