Editing Corporate personhood (section)

==Early history==
{{See also|History of corporations}}
Ancient Indian society used legal personhood for political, social, and economic purposes. As early as 800 BC, legal personhood was granted to guild-like ''[[śreṇī]]'' that operated in the public interest. The late [[Roman Republic]] granted legal personhood to municipalities, public works companies that managed public services, and voluntary associations (''[[collegia]]'') such as the early [[Catholic Church]]. The diverse collegia had different rights and responsibilities that were independent of the individual members. Some collegia resembled later medieval [[guilds]] and were allowed to advance the needs of a trade as a whole, but collegia were otherwise barred from enriching their members.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The historical role of the corporation in society |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publishing/journal-british-academy/6s1/historical-role-of-corporation-in-society/ |access-date=2022-04-23 |journal=Journal of the British Academy |year=2018 |language=en |doi=10.5871/jba/006s1.017|last1=Davoudi |first1=Leonardo |last2=McKenna |first2=Christopher |last3=Olegario |first3=Rowena |volume=6 |pages=17–47 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In the Middle Ages, juridical persons were chartered either as [[corporation]]s or as [[Foundation (nonprofit)|foundation]]s in order to facilitate collective perpetual ownership of assets beyond the founders' lifespans, and to avoid their fragmentation and disintegration resulting from personal property inheritance laws. Later on, incorporation was advocated as an efficient and secure mode of economic development: advantages over existing partnership structures included the corporation's continuing existence if a member died; the ability to act without [[unanimity]]; and limited liability.<ref name="npr-overview">{{cite news |date=2014-07-28 |title=When Did Companies Become People? Excavating The Legal Evolution |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=335288388 |agency=NPR}}</ref> The word "corporation" itself derives from the Latin ''corpus'' ("body"), and juridical personhood is often assumed in medieval writings; by the Renaissance period, European jurists routinely held that churches and universities chartered by the government could gain property, enter into contracts, sue, and be sued, independent of its members. The government (or the Pope) granted religious organizations "the power of perpetual succession": church property would not revert to the local lord, nor be taxed, upon the death of church members. Some town charters explicitly granted medieval towns the right of self-governance. Commercial endeavors were not among the entities incorporated in the medieval era, and even risky trading companies were originally run as common-law partnerships rather than corporations; the incorporation of the [[East India Company]] monopoly in 1600 broke new ground, and by the end of the century, commercial ventures frequently sought incorporation in Europe and the Americas. By the 19th century, the direction of British and American corporate law had diverged; British law of this period (such as the [[Joint Stock Companies Act 1856]]) appeared to focus more on corporations that more closely resembled traditional joint ventures, while American law was driven by the need to manage a more diverse corporate landscape.<ref name = faculty>{{Cite journal |last=Blair |first=Margaret |date=2013-01-01 |title=Corporate Personhood and the Corporate Persona |url= https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/18 |journal=University of Illinois Law Review |volume=2013 |pages=785}}</ref>