Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Susanna K. Ripken

Moral agency

Discipline
Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Law

Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken Dec 2008

Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

The recent controversy over the billions of dollars authorized by Congress to bail out some of the nation’s largest corporations has illuminated a debate about the nature and role of corporations in our society. This debate involves fundamental questions about what or who it is exactly we are trying to save with bailout money. Has the corporation’s presence become such an integral part of our lives that its status obligates us to treat it as a “person” worth saving. Legal theorists have long puzzled over the nature of the corporate person and the value of calling the corporation a person …


Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken Dec 2008

Corporations Are People Too: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To The Corporate Personhood Puzzle, Susanna K. Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

The recent controversy over the billions of dollars authorized by Congress to bail out some of the nation’s largest corporations has illuminated a debate about the nature and role of corporations in our society. This debate involves fundamental questions about what or who it is exactly we are trying to save with bailout money. Has the corporation’s presence become such an integral part of our lives that its status obligates us to treat it as a “person” worth saving. Legal theorists have long puzzled over the nature of the corporate person and the value of calling the corporation a person …


Multiple Personalities Incorporated: Accepting The Multi-Dimensional Personhood Of The Modern Corporation, Susanna K. Ripken Jul 2008

Multiple Personalities Incorporated: Accepting The Multi-Dimensional Personhood Of The Modern Corporation, Susanna K. Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

One of the most intriguing debates in corporate law is over the personhood of corporations. For years, corporate theorists have tried to construct a complete and coherent theory of the corporate person. Some have argued that the corporation is merely a fictional, artificial person that exists only as a concession of state law. Others have asserted that the corporation is a real, independent person that has an ontological existence and identity of its own. The popular theoretical paradigm today is that the corporation is neither an artificial nor a real person; it is merely a nexus of contracts among the …