Corporation

A corporation is a permanent association of persons that pursues a supra-individual purpose and whose existence is independent of the change of members. The corporation is a legal entity with legal capacity.

There are corporations under private law and corporations under public law.

Private-law corporations such as stock corporations or limited liability companies participate in general economic life. Their free establishment and activity is constitutionally guaranteed in the Federal Republic of Germany, as is membership (Art. 19 (3) in conjunction with Art. 9 (1) GG). This also applies to legal persons under private law with their registered office in other EU countries.

Corporations under public law are part of the indirect state administration and perform public administrative tasks alongside institutions and foundations under public law as well as the charitable institutions. For certain persons, membership in certain public-law corporations may be prescribed by law, for example, for members of the so-called chamber professions in professional organisations with a supervisory function such as the Chamber of Physicians or the Chamber of Lawyers.

Division

private corporations

• In Austria and Switzerland associations, in Germany registered associations (e. V.) with numerous forms of economic associations. The largest German e. V. is the ADAC.
• Stock corporations (AGs)
• Limited liability companies GesmbH (Austria) or GmbH (Germany) and their special forms, e.g. the Unternehmergesellschaft (UG) and the gGmbH (non-profit GmbH).
• Cooperatives
• In Switzerland also investment and limited partnerships (limited partnerships (KGs) under German and Austrian law, on the other hand, are partnerships, i.e. not corporations under private law).

public corporations

• Territorial authorities with territorial sovereignty (Confederation, Länder, cantons, districts, counties, municipalities);
• Association bodies with territorial sovereignty (mergers of municipalities into municipal or special-purpose associations);
• Personal corporations without territorial sovereignty, in which the profession or a certain personal characteristic is a prerequisite for membership (e.g. social insurance institutions, pharmacists', doctors', chambers of industry and commerce, chambers of handicrafts, notaries' or dentists' chambers; in Austria also the Workers' or Students' Union).

Special cases

• Religious societies under public law
• Trade union umbrella organisation ÖGB. Under tax law, it has the status of a public corporation in Austria.
• a partial body (also called a constituent body) comprises a certain subset of the members of a public body (e.g. the student body of a university) and is endowed with certain rights.

No corporations

• Establishments: They are not an association of persons, but represent an aggregation of personal and material resources (buildings and personnel) for a specific purpose, e.g. to operate a public institution.
• Foundations under private or public law: asset management for the benefit of specific purposes and persons (beneficiaries)
• partnerships without their own legal personality, e.g. civil law partnerships, in particular internal partnerships

Legal History

Historical bodies include guilds and corporations.