# corporation (business)

a company that is a legal distinct entity from its members

- Computed level: L11 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: corporate  ·  Arena: dictionary

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [company](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-company.economic), [legal](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-legal.law), [organization](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-organization.administrative), [distinct](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-distinct.attribute), [entities](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-entities.object), [member](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-member.social)

**Through:** the company is given legal status and organized as an administrative body, creating a distinct entity

**Novel properties:**
- legal separateness from members
- continuing existence independent of membership
- capacity to act as a single entity under law

## Examples
- Apple Inc. files taxes separately from its employees and shareholders. *(economics)*
- The East India Company waged war and negotiated treaties as a legal person. *(institutions)*
- Enron Corporation's bankruptcy in 2001 erased shareholder equity but left legal obligations intact. *(business)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-corporation.business*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-corporation.business.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*