Joseph Story

“ I have no doubt, whatsoever, that in a legal and technical sense, a corporation is a person; and that under that denomination, it may be included within the provisions of a statute, where the language and provisions and objects of the statute equally apply to corporations and to private persons. ”

“ That would be to say, that a majority of a corporation had a right to extinguish the corporation, by its own will, and at its own pleasure. I doubt that right; at least, unless under very special circumstances. Secondly, cases of an absconding, concealed or absent debtor. Now, it is plain, that in no just sense can a corporation be brought within the terms of this predicament. Thirdly, cases of legal bankruptcy. Such cases do not exist in relation to corporations. The general bankrupt laws of England have never been held to extend to corporations ”

“ Corporations cannot be within three out of the four predicaments above stated; and therefore I hold, that the legislature never could have intended to embrace them within the provisions of the section. ”