I hear the term "Corporations are people" now and again. The same thoughts come whizzing through my head every time I hear that and that is 'If corporations are really people the we should be able to criminally prosecute them when they do something wrong like say nearly bankrupt the whole country with shady financial instruments, pushing drugs for use that they are not designed for and could cause long term damage etc.'
The legal definition of 'corporation', is:
corporation n. an organization formed with state governmental approval to act as an artificial person to carry on business (or other activities), which can sue or be sued, and (unless it is non-profit) can issue shares of stock to raise funds with which to start a business or increase its capital.
And the legal definition of 'person' is:
person n. 1) a human being. 2) a corporation treated as having the rights and obligations of a person. Counties and cities can be treated as a person in the same manner as a corporation. However, corporations, counties and cities cannot have the emotions of humans such as malice, and therefore are not liable for punitive damages.













