!• ..irjicra- 

 tion. 



COR 



ment, or by charter. The creation may be made by 

 the wards " crramns, erigimus, fwidamus, incorvora- 

 nms" or the like. And the law even holds, that it is 

 sufficient to create a corporation, if the king grants to 

 a set of men to have gildam mcrcmnrium, i. e. a mercan- 

 tile meeting or assembly. The king, it is thought, may 

 also grant to a subject the power of erecting corpora- 

 tions, upon the principle, qui fecit per a/ium, facit per 

 se. Such are the matriculated companies, erected by 

 the chancellor of the university of Oxford, of tradesmen 

 subservient to the students. Every corporation must 

 have a peculiar name, by which alone it sues, and is 

 sued, and performs all legal acts. 



The powers, rights, and capacities, which are inci- 

 dent to all corporations, may be classed under the five 

 following heads. 1 . To have perpetual succession. 2. 

 To sue and be sued, grant and receive, &c. by their 

 eorporate name. 3. To purchase lands, and hold them 

 for the benefit of themselves and their successors. 4. 

 To have a common seal. 5. To make bye-laws, or pri- 

 vate statutes, for the better government of the corpora- 

 tion, which, however, must not contain any thing con- 

 trary to the law of the land, otherwise they are void. 

 There are also certain privileges and disabilities inci- 

 dent to an aggregate corporation, which are not appli- 

 cable to such as are sole. It must always appear by at- 

 torney. It cannot be made a party to an action of bat- 

 tery, or such like personal injuries. It cannot commit 

 treason, or felony, or any other crime ; nor is it liable 

 to corporal penalties, nor to attainder, forfeiture, or cor- 

 ruption of blood. It cannot be executor or administra- 

 tor, or perform any personal duties, or be seised of 

 lands for the use of another. Neither can it be impri- 

 soned, or outlawed, or excommunicated. An aggregate 

 corporation may take goods and chattels for the bene- 

 fit of themselves and their successors ; but a sole cor- 

 poration cannot. Aggregate corporations having, by 

 their constitution, a head, cannot do any act during the 

 vacancy of the head-ship, excepting that of appointing 

 another ; nor are they, while in that situation, capable 

 of receiving a grant. But there may be air aggregate 

 corporation constituted without a head. In aggregate 

 corporations, the act of the majority is esteemed the act 

 of the whole. 



In order that corporations may not deviate from the 

 end or object of their institution, the law provides pro- 

 per persons to visit them. In the case of ecclesiastical 

 corporations, the ordinary is constituted'visitor by the 

 canon law. In former times, the pope, and now the 

 king as supreme ordinary, is the visitor of the archbi- 

 shop or metropolitan ; the archbishop of all his suffra- 

 gan bishops ; and the bishops of all the spiritual corpo- 

 rations in their respective dioceses. In regard to lay 

 corporations, the founder, his heirs or assignees, are the 

 visitors. In general, the king being held to be the 

 sole founder of civil corporations, and the enaower the 

 perficient founder of all eleemosynary ones, the right of 

 visiting the former is in the crown, and of the latter in 

 the patron or endower. The crown's right of visitation 

 is exercised in the court of King's Bench. If the foun- 

 der of an ecclesiastical corporation appoints no visitor, 

 the bishop of the diocese must visit. 



A corporation may be dissolved ; 1 . By act of par- 

 liament. "■!. By the natural death of all its members, in 

 the case of an aggregate corporation. 3. By the surren- 

 der of its franchises into the hands of the king. 4. By 

 the forfeiture of its charter. See Blackstone's Comment. 

 b. i. ch. 18. 



C O II 



Corporations erected for the benefit of particular 

 branches of trade and manufactures, to which the com- 

 mercial policy of modern times has been extremely fa- 

 vourable, have been condemned, by the most eminent 

 political economists, as injurious to the interests of the 

 community. These injurious effects result, 1. From 

 the obstruction of the free use and circulation of la- 

 bour ; 2. From the limitation of competition ; and, 3. 

 From the facility afforded to combinations among trades- 

 men, for the purpose of defrauding the public. The 

 reader will find this subject amply discussed in Dr 

 Smith's Wealth of Nations, passim. (z) 



CORPUSCULAR Philosophy. See Mechanics. 



CORREA, a genus of plants of the class Octandria, 

 and order Monogynia. See Botany. 



CORREGGIO. Of the history of this very emi- 

 nent painter, little is known with any degree of cer- 

 tainty. Even the exact time and place of his birth 

 are points on which his biographers are not agreed, 

 though it seems the opinion most generally received, 

 that he was born in the year 14{)4, at Cofreggio, a small 

 town in the duchy of Modena. With regard to his 

 parentage and education, it is asserted by Vasari on the 

 one hand, that he was the son of a labourer, who was 

 unable to afford him the advantages of early instruction ; 

 while, on the other, Sandrart and Orlandi contend, that 

 he was of a noble family, that he received a liberal 

 education, and that he lived and died rich. It has, 

 with great justice, been observed by Raphael Mengs, 

 who was at infinite pains in collecting every thing that 

 is known or conjectured of the history of Correggio, 

 that the elegance and dignity of sentiment which ap- 

 pear in his works, strongly corroborate the supposi- 

 tion, that he possessed that general cultivation of mind 

 which natural talents could scarcely have produced 

 without the benefit of a good education. He is said to 

 have received instructions in painting from Francesco 

 Bianchi, surnamed II Frari ; and afterwards from An- 

 drew Mantegna. But however that may be, he must 

 be considered as little indebted to them for those pecu- 

 liar excellencies which distinguish his works, in which 

 grace, grandeur, and angelic beauty, appear in all the 

 charms of the most delicate and harmonious colouring, 

 and with all the magical illusions of the chiaro-oscuro, 

 carried to the highest possible pitch of perfection. 



The most important work of Correggio is the cu- 

 pola of the cathedral at Parma, which lie finished in 

 1530. This has always been considered as one of the 

 most wonderful productions of the art. Its form is oc- 

 tangular, and the subject with which it is decorated is 

 the Assumption of the Virgin, executed in fresco. In 

 the upper part of the composition, he has represented 

 the Virgin Mary, surrounded by an immense assem- 

 blage of angels, some throwing incense, and others tri- 

 umphantly applauding. Every one must be struck 

 with the angelic expression which he has given to them. 

 The smoke of the tapers, which are constantly burning 

 in the church, has considerably affected the colour 

 of this work ; but notwithstanding the dusky hue it 

 has assumed, joined to all the disadvantages of a very 

 unfavourable light, it continues to excite the surprise 

 and admiration of every judicious beholder. Another 

 great work of Correggio, and the first in point of time 

 which lie painted at Parma, is the cupola of the church 

 of St John of the Benedictine Fathers. In the middle 

 is the figure of Christ, suspended in air, with the twelve 

 Apostles below, seated on clouds. These figures, which 

 are naked, are generally allowed to combine, in a rc- 



Corpoi'A. 

 tion 



II 

 Correggio. 



