A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the conceptual nature of corporations as legal entities created by law rather than physical beings.
John Marshall's quote underscores the abstract and legalistic nature of corporations, emphasizing that they do not exist physically but are recognized by law. This perspective reflects on the powerful role that legal frameworks play in shaping economic and social relationships, demonstrating how institutions can influence society even when they cannot be seen or touched.
In practice
During a seminar on corporate law, this quote can illustrate the concept of corporate personhood.
The particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void; and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.
If the agency of the mother in forming the character of her children is, in truth, so considerable, as I think it - if she does so much toward making her son what she would wish him to be - how essential is it that she should be fitted for the beneficial performance of these important duties.
The constitution controls any legislative act repugnant to it.
The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty.
The federal government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it . . . is now universally admitted.
The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right.
A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.
Satan can make men dance upon the brink of hell as though they were on the verge of heaven.
Triviality is evil - triviality, that is, in the form of consciousness and mind that adapts itself to the world as it is, that obeys the principle of inertia. And this principle of inertia truly is what is radically evil.
But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.
The quality of life in America is dependent on the quality of the journalism. Most people don't realize that, but if you think about it, journalism is one of the pillars on which our society is perched.
Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized.
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