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Legal personhood and the firm: avoiding anthropomorphism and equivocation

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  • GINDIS, DAVID

Abstract

From the legal point of view, ‘person’ is not co-extensive with ‘human being’. Nor is it synonymous with ‘rational being’ or ‘responsible subject’. Much of the confusion surrounding the issue of the firm's legal personality is due to the tendency to address the matter with only these, all too often conflated, definitions of personhood in mind. On the contrary, when the term ‘person’ is defined in line with its original meaning as ‘mask’ worn in the legal drama, it is easy to see that it is only the capacity to attract legal relations that defines the legal person. This definition, that avoids the undesirable emotional associations and equivocations that often plague the debate, is important for a legally grounded view of the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Gindis, David, 2016. "Legal personhood and the firm: avoiding anthropomorphism and equivocation," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 499-513, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:12:y:2016:i:03:p:499-513_00
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    Cited by:

    1. David Gindis & Abraham A. Singer, 2023. "The Corporate Baby in the Bathwater: Why Proposals to Abolish Corporate Personhood Are Misguided," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(4), pages 983-997, April.
    2. Nicholas Uchechukwu Asogwa & Michael Emeka Onwuama, 2021. "Hate Speech and Authentic Personhood: Unveiling the Truth," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440211, March.
    3. Nneka Logan, 2019. "Corporate Personhood and the Corporate Responsibility to Race," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 977-988, February.
    4. Xavier Hollandts & Bertrand Valiorgue, 2019. "La gouvernance de médiation comme réponse aux impasses conceptuelles et pratiques de la gouvernance actionnariale," Post-Print hal-03041045, HAL.
    5. Simon Deakin, 2017. "Tony Lawson’s Theory of the Corporation: Towards a Social Ontology of Law," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(5), pages 1505-1523.
    6. Samuel Mansell & John Ferguson & David Gindis & Avia Pasternak, 2019. "Rethinking Corporate Agency in Business, Philosophy, and Law," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 893-899, February.
    7. David Gindis, 0. "On the origins, meaning and influence of Jensen and Meckling’s definition of the firm," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(4), pages 966-984.
    8. Simon Deakin, 2017. "Tony Lawson's Theory of the Corporation: Towards a Social Ontology of Law," Working Papers wp491, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    9. Fabian Grabicki & Jens Weghake, 2016. "Why the QWERTY phenomenon is not just in the theorists’ minds yet not pose a problem in reality," TUC Working Papers in Economics 0016, Abteilung für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Technische Universität Clausthal (Department of Economics, Technical University Clausthal).

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