Willis: Anglo-American Law 
19 
A corporation is an artificial legal entity, or juristic person, 
composed of one or more individuals and possessing a person- 
ality and legal capacity differing from that of such individuals. 
A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and exist- 
ing only in contemplation of law; being the mere creature of the law 
it possesses only those attributes which the charter of its creation con- 
fers upon it either expressly or as incidental to its very existence. 
Marshall. 
The notion once prevailed, and Marshall’s definition em- 
bodies the notion, that a corporation is a fiction, but more re- 
cently the notion has been growing that a corporation, as well 
as a partnership, labor organization, or other group organiza- 
tion, has a personality and is as real as an individual . 14 
Corporations are classed as public, private, and quasi-public. 
A partnership is a voluntary association of two or more per- 
sons as co-owners for the purpose of carrying on a business 
with a view to profit. They may be classified as ordinary 
partnerships, limited partnerships, and joint stock companies. 
Persons may also be principals or agents. 
Agency is a legal relation, founded upon the contract of the parties 
or created by law, by virtue of which one party, the agent, is employed 
and authorized to represent and act for the other, the principal, in 
business dealings with third persons. Mechem. 
c. Conduct. The conduct which is the element of a legal 
right consists either of some positive act, as in a contract, 
or of some negative forbearance, as in the case of rights in 
rem. Acts are more liable to produce rights, or to bring 
persons into relations with things, than to be the element of 
a right, and they therefore will have more extended consid- 
eration in another place. For present purposes it is enough 
to say that acts may be void, voidable, or valid. A void act 
amounts to nothing so far as concerns performance, but it 
may have other consequences. A ceremony of marriage be- 
tween two persons, one of whom is already married, is a 
nullity, but it will constitute the offense of bigamy. A void- 
able act is one which a party may perform or not at his 
option. Such an act is one promised by an infant. A valid 
act is one whose performance is obligatory. 
d. Objects. The fourth element of a legal right is an ob- 
jector objects. This object, or objects, may be either per- 
14 Pollock, First Book of Jurisprudence, 116 ; United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal 
Co., 42 Sup. Ct. 570. 
