Sat, 03 Apr 2010

The Magic of Corporate Personhood

The modern corporation as the ultimate magical entity - conjured by legal writ and set loose upon society at large ... this guy nails it.

The legal history of corporate personhood, stretching over a hundred and fifty years, is an interesting story itself, marked by the dogged persistence of the Central Pacific Railroad and other corporations in bringing cases to the Supreme Court year after year that corporations were entitled to the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment drafted to guarantee equal protection for the freed slaves. Overcoming the resistance (and incredulity) of the Court, and many presidents, was a gradual process. It is ironic that it was the non-humanness of the corporation--its immortality--that led to its successful bid to acquire the rights of mortal citizens.

(link) [Huffington Post: Dale Pendell]

via Hardscrabble Creek

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