Corporations as People: Canadian Business Corporations Act
According to the Canadian Business Corporations Act, “A corporation has the capacity and, subject to this Act, the rights, powers and privileges of a natural person” (CBCA R.S.C., 1985, c. C-44). This enables corporations their own entity, with benefits individuals themselves do not possess. Corporations have full maturity upon creation, or ‘birth’. They also have the capability for eternal life. This personhood enables Canadian corporations to conduct business globally with ease. Overall, the advantages corporations have through ‘personhood’ are greater than the average individual or ‘person’ within society.
(CBCA R.S.C., 1985, c. C-44)
In society, corporations separate ownership …show more content…
This façade shields individual malevolence through idealizing corporations. Corporate leaders are repeatedly not held liable for the communal and environmental harm they produce. Instead, the corporate entity is responsible. However, corporations receive small insignificant monetary fines and lawsuits, in comparison to the extremely high revenues they earn annually. In many cases, corporations weigh the pros and cons of how much they could save by taking life-threatening shortcuts. Beyond the Limits of Law, by John McMullan, demonstrates Ford’s unethical estimations by knowingly creating and selling harmful products to gain higher profits; “They had calculated that they would save more than $85 million by delaying lifesaving correctives but would lose no more than $200,000 per death in legal suits. As a result, they chose to put profits before people” (McMullan, 1996 p. 10). The memorandum illustrates the cause and affects relationships of deaths, injuries, and maximum lawsuit costs Ford could possibly receive. Life, a priceless miracle, was intentionally put at risk and given a meaningless value by those hidden within the corporation. Nonetheless, it was the corporation responsible for the unethical decisions made by those supposedly in charge. The protection a corporate veil provides to decision makers complicates the ability to decipher those truly …show more content…
From this viewpoint, corporations are social organisms, whereas people are referred to as physical organisms. Rights belong to every entity with a will and an apparent life of its own, according to this theory. To illustrate, corporations are given a mission statement of their values and business structure. This demonstrates to the public they exist and society accepts them as a real, living organism. Although they physically are not considered an organism, the collective union of people provides a social viewpoint to
According to the Canadian Business Corporations Act, “A corporation has the capacity and, subject to this Act, the rights, powers and privileges of a natural person” (CBCA R.S.C., 1985, c. C-44). This enables corporations their own entity, with benefits individuals themselves do not possess. Corporations have full maturity upon creation, or ‘birth’. They also have the capability for eternal life. This personhood enables Canadian corporations to conduct business globally with ease. Overall, the advantages corporations have through ‘personhood’ are greater than the average individual or ‘person’ within society.
(CBCA R.S.C., 1985, c. C-44)
In society, corporations separate ownership …show more content…
This façade shields individual malevolence through idealizing corporations. Corporate leaders are repeatedly not held liable for the communal and environmental harm they produce. Instead, the corporate entity is responsible. However, corporations receive small insignificant monetary fines and lawsuits, in comparison to the extremely high revenues they earn annually. In many cases, corporations weigh the pros and cons of how much they could save by taking life-threatening shortcuts. Beyond the Limits of Law, by John McMullan, demonstrates Ford’s unethical estimations by knowingly creating and selling harmful products to gain higher profits; “They had calculated that they would save more than $85 million by delaying lifesaving correctives but would lose no more than $200,000 per death in legal suits. As a result, they chose to put profits before people” (McMullan, 1996 p. 10). The memorandum illustrates the cause and affects relationships of deaths, injuries, and maximum lawsuit costs Ford could possibly receive. Life, a priceless miracle, was intentionally put at risk and given a meaningless value by those hidden within the corporation. Nonetheless, it was the corporation responsible for the unethical decisions made by those supposedly in charge. The protection a corporate veil provides to decision makers complicates the ability to decipher those truly …show more content…
From this viewpoint, corporations are social organisms, whereas people are referred to as physical organisms. Rights belong to every entity with a will and an apparent life of its own, according to this theory. To illustrate, corporations are given a mission statement of their values and business structure. This demonstrates to the public they exist and society accepts them as a real, living organism. Although they physically are not considered an organism, the collective union of people provides a social viewpoint to