From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Sun Dec 13 1998 - 15:15:06 MST
In a message dated 98-12-13 14:21:53 EST, mike@lorrey.com (Michael Lorrey)
wrote:
> Corporations
> under the current mercatilist/socialist system carry such power to supress
> information only because the government lets them. In a system where civil
> law is the means of adjudicating all legal impacts, corporations have no
> standing as individual parties (whereas under the current system they are
> considered to be virtual citizens), so the officers and stockholders are
> individually liable. Operating in this manner would ensure that the
> stockholders take steps to ensure that the actions of its officers are not
> placing them in a position of liability.
I wonder about the implications of what you're proposing here, Mike. Consider
that shareholder limited liability is one of the key elements supporting a
secondary market for widely-held equity investment. Who will buy the stock of
ABC Corp. on the secondary market if before they do they have to engage in a
complete program of due diligence to be sure that they're not buying into
personal liability for some then-well-hidden corporate policy? I know I
wouldn't. Allowing corporations to be sued as legal persons actually benefits
the plaintiff as much as limited liability benefits the shareholders: I only
have to sue ABC Corp., not track down all of its (possibly millions of)
shareholder.
A corporation's liability is reflected in its share price, so the market does
act to discipline equity holders. And intentionally inadequately capitalized
corporations can lead to "piercing the corporate veil" and thence to personal
shareholder liability, so shareholders have a keen interest in seeing to it
that a corporation is sufficiently capitalized to satisfy judgments against
it. I don't see anything at all inconsistent with radical anarcho-capitalism
in allowing corporate limited liability and corporate legal personhood.
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<burchg@liddellsapp.com>
Attorney ::: Director, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must
be driven into practice with courageous impatience."
-- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
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