60 likes | 67 Vues
http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPQkd_AA6c. The History of Corporations. Early History. First Appearance in England
E N D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPQkd_AA6c The History of Corporations
Early History • First Appearance in England • Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end. The states also imposed conditions (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these*: • Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws. • Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose. • Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose. • Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm. • Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job. • Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making. • Colony charters (Mass., Virginia) • Dartmouth v. Woodward (1819) – States can’t revoke corporate charters • Dodge v. Woolsey (1855) – States have power over “artificial bodies”
The Change • The Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age • Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific (1886) - Corporate “personhood” and the idea that the 14th Amendment covers corporations, too • Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad v. Beckwith (1889) • Now corporations have equal protection claims and due process.
Growth of Rights • A series of Supreme Court rulings expand specific rights of corporations through the 1970s. • Buckley v. Valeo [1976] - The Supreme Court rules that political money is equivalent to speech. • Virginia Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Consumer Council [1976] - The Supreme Court protects commercial speech.
Today • Citizens United (2010) – Corporations have the same right to political speech as people. • Corporations are no longer about economic rights. They now have political rights. • “Corporations are people, my friend.” Mitt Romney, 2011 • What’s next?
Today, con’t • Hobby Lobby (2014) • Corporations that are “closely held” have religious rights as well