(1) Patrick, I wasn't intending to argue that unnatural persons
(corporations and other business entities) tend to be, umm, just as
honorable as natural persons (people). I can see how you might read
my short comment that way, but it wasn't intended.
(2) Dan, that's a common misconception. It was not a US Supreme
Court interpretation. Instead, it was dictum (a side comment) in a
procedural matter involving an appeal from the New York Court of
Appeals. The proper purpose of corporations is a matter of
state, not federal, law; that's one of the many
reasons that so many corporations are actually "citizens" of
Delaware.
In any event, whether that decision still holds is open to
question. At that time, corporations were required to have specific
purposes stated in their charters, and activity not within that
purpose was not shielded by all of the protections corporations
provide for investors. Modern corporation statutes and charters
allow a corporation to pursue "any lawful purpose"—one of the
few phrases that one can find in all US-based corporation statutes.
"Financial benefit to shareholders" remains one test for a publicly
owned corporation—but only by indirection, based upon
requirements of the Securities Act of 1934 (and would apply equally
to non-corporate issuers of securities).
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