CORPORATION, a corporate body legally empowered to act as a single in dividual, and having a common seal. A corporation may be either aggregate or sole. Corporations aggregate consist of two or more persons legally incorpo rated in a society, which is kept up by a succession of members, either in per petuity or till the corporation is dis solved. A corporation sole consists of a single individual and his successors, the intention being to perpetuate a function or office, which cannot be done in any man in his personal or bodily capacity. To render valid a transfer of lands to such a corporation, the phraseology must always include the words "and his successors." In England the king or a bishop is a corporation sole, as the office is immortal though the man may die.
Corporations are liable to the ordinary laws and treaties of the country, but are not citizens in the sense of exercising a political or municipal franchise. United
States law has also had occasion to em phasize the distinction between a public corporation which may be affected by legislation, and a private corporation. Further, according to United States law, the franchises of a corporation are treated as realizable assets for creditors. The amount of property which may be held by a corporation in the United States is frequently limited in the act or charter. In the United States less im portance is attached to the use of the common seal of a corporation than in Great Britain. In Oregon, Delaware, District of Columbia, South Dakota, and Porto Rico the laws affecting corpora tions are more liberal and the fees smaller than in most other States.