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97-466: Ceremonies for graduating students date from the first universities in Europe in the twelfth century. At that time, Latin was the language of scholars. A universitas was a guild of masters (such as MAs) with license to teach. "Degree" and "graduate" come from gradus , meaning "step". The first step was admission to a bachelor's degree. The second step was the masters step, giving the graduate admission to

194-401: A legal person in a legal context) and recognized as such in law for certain purposes. Early incorporated entities were established by charter (i.e., by an ad hoc act granted by a monarch or passed by a parliament or legislature). Most jurisdictions now allow the creation of new corporations through registration . Corporations come in many different types but are usually divided by

291-492: A separate legal person was mainly administrative, as a unified entity under which the rights and duties of all investors and managers could be channeled. However, there was still no limited liability and company members could still be held responsible for unlimited losses by the company. The next, crucial development, then, was the Limited Liability Act 1855 , passed at the behest of the then Vice President of

388-400: A charter granted by the government. As explained above, such charters were often enacted as private bills . Today, a corporation is formed, or incorporated , by registering with the state, province, or national government and regulated by the laws enacted by that government. Registration is the main prerequisite to the corporation's assumption of limited liability. The law sometimes requires

485-489: A corporation are typically controlled by individuals appointed by the members. In some cases, this will be a single individual but more commonly corporations are controlled by a committee or by committees. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of committee structure. In countries with co-determination (such as in Germany ), workers elect a fixed fraction of the corporation's board. Historically, corporations were created by

582-436: A corporation as: a collection of many individuals united into one body, under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested, by the policy of the law, with the capacity of acting, in several respects, as an individual, particularly of taking and granting property, of contracting obligations, and of suing and being sued, of enjoying privileges and immunities in common, and of exercising

679-439: A corporation; shareholders instead elect or appoint a board of directors to control the corporation in a fiduciary capacity. In most circumstances, a shareholder may also serve as a director or officer of a corporation. Countries with co-determination employ the practice of workers of an enterprise having the right to vote for representatives on the board of directors in a company. The word "corporation" derives from corpus ,

776-410: A crown motif, and a black peak at the front. The graduation hat tradition was initially adopted by students at Uppsala University . The headgear then became popular across several other European nations as well. Usually, the ceremony and name apply to university or college degrees: Associate's , Bachelor's , Master's and Doctoral degrees. In a graduation ceremony for a college or university,

873-424: A distinct name. Historically, some corporations were named after the members of their boards of directors: for example, the " President and Fellows of Harvard College " is the name of one of the two governing boards of Harvard University , but it is also the exact name under which Harvard was legally incorporated. Nowadays, corporations in most jurisdictions have a distinct name that does not need to make reference to

970-537: A partnership arose. Early guilds and livery companies were also often involved in the regulation of competition between traders. Dutch and English chartered companies, such as the Dutch East India Company (also known by its Dutch initials: VOC) and the Hudson's Bay Company , were created to lead the colonial ventures of European nations in the 17th century. Acting under a charter sanctioned by

1067-553: A partnership or some other form of collective ownership (in the United States it can be used by a sole proprietorship but this is not generally the case elsewhere). Despite not being human beings, corporations have been ruled legal persons in a few countries, and have many of the same rights as natural persons do. For example, a corporation can own property, and can sue or be sued for as long as it exists. Corporations can exercise human rights against real individuals and

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1164-481: A private act to allow an individual to represent the whole in legal proceedings, this was a narrow and necessarily costly expedient, allowed only to established companies. Then, in 1843, William Gladstone became the chairman of a Parliamentary Committee on Joint Stock Companies, which led to the Joint Stock Companies Act 1844 , regarded as the first modern piece of company law. The Act created

1261-466: A proliferation of laws allowing for the creation of corporations by registration across the world, which helped to drive economic booms in many countries before and after World War I. Another major post World War I shift was toward the development of conglomerates , in which large corporations purchased smaller corporations to expand their industrial base. Starting in the 1980s, many countries with large state-owned corporations moved toward privatization ,

1358-459: A riot left a number of students dead. The university went on strike and they did not return for two years. Most universities in Europe were recognized by the Holy See as studia generalia , testified by a papal bull . Members of these institutions were encouraged to disseminate their knowledge across Europe, often lecturing at a different studium generale . Indeed, one of the privileges

1455-578: A state university in Zimbabwe can claim to have shaken the President's hand. The person most associated with graduation at those institutions is Zimbabwe's late ex-president Robert Mugabe . At other state institutions of higher learning, the vice presidents or other senior government officials may preside. Otherwise, in countries like Argentina and Uruguay , enthusiasm prevails over moderation, as well as taking part in an authentic carnival as part of

1552-476: A teacher in Toulouse had the right to teach everywhere without further examinations ( ius ubique docendi ), in time, transformed this privilege into the single most important defining characteristic of the university and made it the symbol of its institutional autonomy .... By the year 1292, even the two oldest universities, Bologna and Paris, felt the need to seek similar bulls from Pope Nicholas IV ." By

1649-958: A variety of political rights, more or less extensive, according to the design of its institution, or the powers conferred upon it, either at the time of its creation or at any subsequent period of its existence. Due to the late 18th century abandonment of mercantilist economic theory and the rise of classical liberalism and laissez-faire economic theory due to a revolution in economics led by Adam Smith and other economists, corporations transitioned from being government or guild affiliated entities to being public and private economic entities free of governmental directions. Smith wrote in his 1776 work The Wealth of Nations that mass corporate activity could not match private entrepreneurship, because people in charge of others' money would not exercise as much care as they would with their own. The British Bubble Act 1720s prohibition on establishing companies remained in force until its repeal in 1825. By this point,

1746-630: Is also marked by a graduation ceremony. The procedures and traditions surrounding academic graduation ceremonies differ around the world. In the United Kingdom a graduation usually only occurs at university level. Whereas in the United States and many other countries, graduations also occur at high schools where no higher education qualifications are awarded to the graduates. In Sweden , most universities are research-oriented and may present their students with bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees covering all academic streams. Universities across

1843-473: Is authorized to issue, and the names and addresses of directors. Once the articles are approved, the corporation's directors meet to create bylaws that govern the internal functions of the corporation, such as meeting procedures and officer positions. In theory, a corporation cannot own its own stock. An exception is treasury stock , where the company essentially buys back stock from its shareholders, which reduces its outstanding shares. This essentially becomes

1940-444: Is generally limited to their investment. One of the attractive early advantages business corporations offered to their investors , compared to earlier business entities like sole proprietorships and joint partnerships , was limited liability. Limited liability separates control of a company from ownership and means that a passive shareholder in a corporation will not be personally liable either for contractually agreed obligations of

2037-447: Is limited: one can only collect from whatever assets the entity still controls when one obtains a judgment against it. Corporate names are supposed to be unique to the jurisdiction in which the corporation is registered. Governments will not allow another corporation or any other kind of legal entity to register a name that is too similar to the name of an existing corporation. However, since "different states may register entities with

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2134-407: Is usually required to register with other governments as a foreign corporation and must formally appoint a registered agent to accept service of process within such other jurisdictions. A foreign corporation is almost always subject to the laws of its host state pertaining to external affairs such as employment , crimes , contracts , civil actions , and the like. Corporations generally have

2231-715: The Industrial Revolution had gathered pace, pressing for legal change to facilitate business activity. The repeal was the beginning of a gradual lifting on restrictions, though business ventures (such as those chronicled by Charles Dickens in Martin Chuzzlewit ) under primitive companies legislation were often scams. Without cohesive regulation, proverbial operations like the "Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company" were undercapitalized ventures promising no hope of success except for richly paid promoters. The process of incorporation

2328-620: The Latin word for body, or a "body of people". By the time of Justinian (reigned 527–565), Roman law recognized a range of corporate entities under the names Universitas , corpus or collegium . Following the passage of the Lex Julia during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their reaffirmation during the reign of Caesar Augustus as Princeps senatus and Imperator of

2425-457: The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies , empowered to register companies by a two-stage process. The first, provisional, stage cost £5 and did not confer corporate status, which arose after completing the second stage for another £5. For the first time in history, it was possible for ordinary people through a simple registration procedure to incorporate. The advantage of establishing a company as

2522-596: The Renaissance due to the scholastic and Aristotelian emphasis of its curriculum being less popular than the cultural studies of Renaissance humanism , Toby Huff has noted the continued importance of the European universities, with their focus on Aristotle and other scientific and philosophical texts into the early modern period, arguing that they played a crucial role in the Scientific Revolution of

2619-853: The Roman Army (27 BC–14 AD), collegia required the approval of the Roman Senate or the Emperor in order to be authorized as legal bodies . These included the state itself (the Populus Romanus ), municipalities, and such private associations as sponsors of a religious cult , burial clubs , political groups, and guilds of craftsmen or traders. Such bodies commonly had the right to own property and make contracts, to receive gifts and legacies, to sue and be sued, and, in general, to perform legal acts through representatives. Private associations were granted designated privileges and liberties by

2716-590: The University of St Andrews (1413) begun as private corporations of teachers and their pupils. In many cases universities petitioned secular power for privileges and this became a model. Emperor Frederick I in Authentica Habita (1158) gave the first privileges to students in Bologna. Another step was Pope Alexander III in 1179 "forbidding masters of the church schools to take fees for granting

2813-729: The War of the Spanish Succession , which gave Great Britain an asiento to trade in the region for thirty years. In fact, the Spanish remained hostile and let only one ship a year enter. Unaware of the problems, investors in Britain, enticed by extravagant promises of profit from company promoters bought thousands of shares. By 1717, the South Sea Company was so wealthy (still having done no real business) that it assumed

2910-416: The campus of a modern university. Classes were taught wherever space was available, such as churches and homes. A university was not a physical space but a collection of individuals banded together as a universitas . Soon, however, universities began to rent, buy or construct buildings specifically for the purposes of teaching. Universities were generally structured along three types, depending on who paid

3007-562: The public debt of the British government. This accelerated the inflation of the share price further, as did the Bubble Act 1720 , which (possibly with the motive of protecting the South Sea Company from competition) prohibited the establishment of any companies without a royal charter. The share price rose so rapidly that people began buying shares merely in order to sell them at a higher price, which in turn led to higher share prices. This

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3104-527: The universitas and license to teach. Typical dress for graduation is gown and hood, or hats adapted from the daily dress of university staff in the Middle Ages , which was in turn based on the attire worn by medieval clergy. The tradition of wearing graduation hats in Sweden has been in place since the mid-eighteenth century. The cap is typically a white sailor hat with a black or dark blue band around it,

3201-550: The 13th century, almost half of the highest offices in the Church were occupied by degree masters ( abbots , archbishops , cardinals ), and over one-third of the second-highest offices were occupied by masters. In addition, some of the greatest theologians of the High Middle Ages , Thomas Aquinas and Robert Grosseteste , were products of the medieval university. The development of the medieval university coincided with

3298-487: The 16th and 17th centuries. As he puts it " Copernicus , Galileo , Tycho Brahe , Kepler , and Newton were all extraordinary products of the apparently Procrustean and allegedly Scholastic universities of Europe... Sociological and historical accounts of the role of the university as an institutional locus for science and as an incubator of scientific thought and arguments have been vastly understated." Initially medieval universities did not have physical facilities such as

3395-658: The Board of Trade, Robert Lowe . This allowed investors to limit their liability in the event of business failure to the amount they invested in the company – shareholders were still liable directly to creditors , but just for the unpaid portion of their shares . (The principle that shareholders are liable to the corporation had been introduced in the Joint Stock Companies Act 1844). The 1855 Act allowed limited liability to companies of more than 25 members (shareholders). Insurance companies were excluded from

3492-502: The Bologna university the students ran everything—a fact that often put teachers under great pressure and disadvantage. In Paris, teachers ran the school; thus Paris became the premiere spot for teachers from all over Europe. Also, in Paris the main subject matter was theology, so control of the qualifications awarded was in the hands of an external authority – the chancellor of the diocese. In Bologna, where students chose more secular studies,

3589-713: The Dutch government, the Dutch East India Company defeated Portuguese forces and established itself in the Moluccan Islands in order to profit from the European demand for spices . Investors in the VOC were issued paper certificates as proof of share ownership, and were able to trade their shares on the original Amsterdam Stock Exchange . Shareholders were also explicitly granted limited liability in

3686-699: The English East India Company would come to symbolize the dazzlingly rich potential of the corporation, as well as new methods of business that could be both brutal and exploitative. On 31 December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted the company a 15-year monopoly on trade to and from the East Indies and Africa . By 1711, shareholders in the East India Company were earning a return on their investment of almost 150 per cent. Subsequent stock offerings demonstrated just how lucrative

3783-491: The Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples , and the Kingdoms of England , France , Spain , Portugal , and Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries for the study of the arts and the higher disciplines of theology , law , and medicine . These universities evolved from much older Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools , and it is difficult to define the exact date when they became true universities, though

3880-472: The UK, such as fraud and corporate manslaughter . However, corporations are not considered living entities in the way that humans are. Legal scholars and others, such as Joel Bakan , have observed that a business corporation created as a "legal person" has a psychopathic personality because it is required to elevate its own interests above those of others even when this inflicts major risks and grave harms on

3977-539: The act, though it was standard practice for insurance contracts to exclude action against individual members. Limited liability for insurance companies was allowed by the Companies Act 1862 . This prompted the English periodical The Economist to write in 1855 that "never, perhaps, was a change so vehemently and generally demanded, of which the importance was so much overrated." The major error of this judgment

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4074-489: The bureaucratic needs of monarchs—and were, according to Rashdall, their artificial creations. The University of Paris was formally recognized when Pope Gregory IX issued the bull Parens scientiarum (1231). This was a revolutionary step: studium generale (university) and universitas (corporation of students or teachers) existed even before, but after the issuing of the bull, they attained autonomy . "[T]he papal bull of 1233, which stipulated that anyone admitted as

4171-399: The celebration that is mostly spontaneous, anarchic, and barely planned in the middle of the streets: hundreds of graduates, familiars and friends gather in an open place, carrying alcoholic drinks, eggs, flour and other messy food; pelting it all over the graduates; whereas the party is public and open to excesses that carry the complaints of all sorts of commerce, neighbours and authorities in

4268-592: The ceremony, as will the trustees (if applicable). When a student graduates without attending the graduation ceremony, then it is called graduation in absentia . In the United States and Israel , completing high school is also referred to as "graduating", with a high school diploma or, in Israel, a Bagrut certificate. Graduations from high school typically occur between the months of June and August. Oftentimes, completing middle school or kindergarten

4365-399: The city if they were enrolled at a university. University studies took six years for a Master of Arts degree (a Bachelor of Arts degree was awarded after completing the third or fourth year). Studies for this were organized by the faculty of arts , where the seven liberal arts were taught: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic, and rhetoric. All instruction

4462-613: The company had become. Its first stock offering in 1713–1716 raised £418,000, its second in 1717–1722 raised £1.6 million. A similar chartered company , the South Sea Company , was established in 1711 to trade in the Spanish South American colonies, but met with less success. The South Sea Company's monopoly rights were supposedly backed by the Treaty of Utrecht , signed in 1713 as a settlement following

4559-556: The company's royal charter. In England, the government created corporations under a royal charter or an Act of Parliament with the grant of a monopoly over a specified territory. The best-known example, established in 1600, was the East India Company of London . Queen Elizabeth I granted it the exclusive right to trade with all countries to the east of the Cape of Good Hope . Some corporations at this time would act on

4656-402: The corporate model for this reason (as a trust ). State governments began to adopt more permissive corporate laws from the early 19th century, although these were all restrictive in design, often with the intention of preventing corporations from gaining too much wealth and power. New Jersey was the first state to adopt an "enabling" corporate law, with the goal of attracting more business to

4753-490: The corporate status of the entity (for example, "Incorporated" or "Inc." in the United States) or the limited liability of its members (for example, "Limited", "Ltd.", or "LLC"). These terms vary by jurisdiction and language. In some jurisdictions, they are mandatory, and in others, such as California, they are not. Their use puts everybody on constructive notice that they are dealing with an entity whose liability

4850-408: The corporation is determined by the portion of shares in the company that they own. Thus, a person who owns a quarter of the shares of a joint-stock company owns a quarter of the company, is entitled to a quarter of the profit (or at least a quarter of the profit given to shareholders as dividends) and has a quarter of the votes capable of being cast at general meetings. In another kind of corporation,

4947-408: The corporation to designate its principal address, as well as a registered agent (a person or company designated to receive legal service of process). It may also be required to designate an agent or other legal representatives of the corporation. Generally, a corporation files articles of incorporation with the government, laying out the general nature of the corporation, the amount of stock it

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5044-556: The corporation, or for torts (involuntary harms) committed by the corporation against a third party (acts done by the controllers of the corporation). Where local law distinguishes corporations by their ability to issue stock , corporations allowed to do so are referred to as stock corporations ; one type of investment in the corporation is through stock, and owners of stock are referred to as stockholders or shareholders . Corporations not allowed to issue stock are referred to as non-stock corporations ; i.e. those who are considered

5141-492: The country are based through the Higher Education Ordinance. Most of the national programs provide Swedish, English, math and science among degree courses. In Zimbabwe , graduation ceremonies are often associated with the guest of honor who most often is the ceremonial head of the institution. At state universities the president of the country officiates as chancellor and guest of honor. Every graduate of

5238-461: The emperor. The concept of the corporation was revived in the Middle Ages with the recovery and annotation of Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis by the glossators and their successors the commentators in the 11th–14th centuries. Particularly important in this respect were the Italian jurists Bartolus de Saxoferrato and Baldus de Ubaldis , the latter of whom connected the corporation to

5335-422: The equivalent of unissued capital, where it is not classified as an asset on the balance sheet (passive capital). Under the internal affairs doctrine , the law of the jurisdiction in which a corporation is incorporated will govern its internal activities—that is, conflicts between shareholders and managers such as the board of directors and corporate officers. If a corporation operates outside its home state, it

5432-460: The government's behalf, bringing in revenue from its exploits abroad. Subsequently, the company became increasingly integrated with English and later British military and colonial policy, just as most corporations were essentially dependent on the Royal Navy 's ability to control trade routes. Labeled by both contemporaries and historians as "the grandest society of merchants in the universe",

5529-456: The higher faculties, law , medicine , or theology , the last one being the most prestigious. Originally, only few universities had a faculty of theology, because the popes wanted to control the theological studies. Until the mid-14th century, theology could be studied only at universities in Paris, Oxford, Cambridge and Rome. First the establishment of the University of Prague (1347) ended their monopoly and afterwards also other universities got

5626-599: The history of companies was the 1897 decision of the House of Lords in Salomon v. Salomon & Co. where the House of Lords confirmed the separate legal personality of the company, and that the liabilities of the company were separate and distinct from those of its owners. In the United States , forming a corporation usually required an act of legislation until the late 19th century. Many private firms, such as Carnegie 's steel company and Rockefeller 's Standard Oil , avoided

5723-650: The landmark 1856 Joint Stock Companies Act . This was subsequently consolidated with a number of other statutes in the Companies Act 1862, which remained in force for the rest of the century, up to and including the time of the decision in Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd . The legislation shortly gave way to a railway boom, and from then, the numbers of companies formed soared. In the later nineteenth century, depression took hold, and just as company numbers had boomed, many began to implode and fall into insolvency. Much strong academic, legislative and judicial opinion

5820-478: The late 14th century, the term began to appear by itself to exclusively mean a self-regulating community of teachers and scholars recognized and sanctioned by civil or ecclesiastical authority. From the Early Modern period onward, this Western -style organizational form gradually spread from the medieval Latin west across the globe, eventually replacing all other higher-learning institutions and becoming

5917-521: The law of the jurisdiction where they are chartered based on two aspects: whether they can issue stock , or whether they are formed to make a profit . Depending on the number of owners, a corporation can be classified as aggregate (the subject of this article) or sole (a legal entity consisting of a single incorporated office occupied by a single natural person ). Registered corporations have legal personality recognized by local authorities and their shares are owned by shareholders whose liability

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6014-426: The law. Students were also known to engage in drunkenness. Sometimes citizens were forbidden to interact with students because they made accusations against the university. This led to uneasy tensions with secular authorities—the demarcation between town and gown . Masters and students would sometimes "strike" by leaving a city and not returning for years. This happened at the University of Paris strike of 1229 after

6111-425: The legal document which established the corporation or which contains its current rules will determine the requirements for membership in the corporation. What these requirements are depends on the kind of corporation involved. In a worker cooperative , the members are people who work for the cooperative. In a credit union , the members are people who have accounts with the credit union. The day-to-day activities of

6208-401: The license to teach ( licentia docendi ), and obliging them to give license to properly qualified teachers". Rashdall considered that the integrity of a university was only preserved in such an internally regulated corporation, which protected the scholars from external intervention. This independently evolving organization was absent in the universities of southern Italy and Spain, which served

6305-474: The lists of studia generalia for higher education in Europe held by the Vatican are a useful guide. The word universitas originally applied only to the scholastic guilds —that is, the corporation of students and masters—within the studium , and it was always modified, as universitas magistrorum , universitas scholarium , or universitas magistrorum et scholarium . Eventually, probably in

6402-532: The lives of any particular member, existing in perpetuity. The alleged oldest commercial corporation in the world, the Stora Kopparberg mining community in Falun , Sweden , obtained a charter from King Magnus Eriksson in 1347. In medieval times , traders would do business through common law constructs, such as partnerships . Whenever people acted together with a view to profit, the law deemed that

6499-618: The madrasahs in Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily . George Makdisi, Toby Huff and Norman Daniel, however, have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the "Islamic college" ( madrasa ) versus the European university. Hastings Rashdall set out

6596-457: The main subject was law. It was also characteristic of teachers and scholars to move around. Universities often competed to secure the best and most popular teachers, leading to the marketisation of teaching. Universities published their list of scholars to entice students to study at their institution. Students of Peter Abelard followed him to Melun, Corbeil, and Paris, showing that popular teachers brought students with them. Students attended

6693-626: The medieval university at different ages—from 14 if they were attending Oxford or Paris to study the arts, to their 30s if they were studying law in Bologna. During this period of study, students often lived far from home and unsupervised, and as such developed a reputation, both among contemporary commentators and modern historians, for drunken debauchery. Students are frequently criticized in the Middle Ages for neglecting their studies for drinking, gambling and sleeping with prostitutes. In Bologna, some of their laws permitted students to be citizens of

6790-417: The members of their boards. In Canada, this possibility is taken to its logical extreme: many smaller Canadian corporations have no names at all, merely numbers based on a registration number (for example, "12345678 Ontario Limited"), which is assigned by the provincial or territorial government where the corporation incorporates. In most countries, corporate names include a term or an abbreviation that denotes

6887-538: The metaphor of the body politic to describe the state . Early entities which carried on business and were the subjects of legal rights included the collegium of ancient Rome and the sreni of the Maurya Empire in ancient India. In medieval Europe, churches became incorporated, as did local governments, such as the City of London Corporation . The point was that the incorporation would survive longer than

6984-1090: The modern understanding of the medieval origins of the universities, noting that the earliest universities emerged spontaneously as "a scholastic Guild, whether of Masters or Students... without any express authorization of King, Pope, Prince or Prelate." Among the earliest universities of this type were the University of Bologna (1088), University of Paris (c. 1150), University of Oxford (1167), University of Modena (1175), University of Palencia (1208), University of Cambridge (1209), University of Salamanca (1218), University of Montpellier (1220), University of Padua (1222), University of Naples (1224), University of Toulouse (1229), University of Orleans (1235), University of Siena (1240), University of Valladolid (1241) University of Northampton (1261), University of Coimbra (1288), University of Macerata (1290), University of Pisa (1343), Charles University in Prague (1348), Jagiellonian University (1364), University of Vienna (1365), Heidelberg University (1386) and

7081-408: The owners of a non-stock corporation are persons (or other entities) who have obtained membership in the corporation and are referred to as a member of the corporation. Corporations chartered in regions where they are distinguished by whether they are allowed to be for-profit are referred to as for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, respectively. Shareholders do not typically actively manage

7178-401: The papal bull confirmed was the right to confer the ius ubique docendi , an entitlement to teach everywhere. Corporation#History This is an accepted version of this page A corporation is an organization —usually a group of people or a company —authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as "born out of statute";

7275-571: The pre-eminent model for higher education everywhere. The university is generally regarded as a formal institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting. For hundreds of years prior to the establishment of universities, European higher education took place in Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools ( scholae monasticae ), where monks and nuns taught classes. Evidence of these immediate forerunners of

7372-530: The presiding officer or other authorized person formally confers degrees upon candidates, either individually or en masse . However, some graduates may physically receive their diploma later at a smaller college or departmental ceremonies, or even through the mail. Ceremonies often include a procession of some of the academic staff, candidates, and a valediction . The students typically wear formal academic dress , such as square academic caps and gowns. The academic staff will usually also wear academic dress at

7469-411: The public or on other third-parties. Such critics note that the legal mandate of the corporation to focus exclusively on corporate profits and self-interest often victimizes employees, customers, the public at large, and/or the natural resources . The political theorist David Runciman notes that corporate personhood forms a fundamental part of the modern history of the idea of the state , and believes

7566-475: The right to establish theological faculties. A popular textbook for theological study was called the Sentences ( Quattuor libri sententiarum ) of Peter Lombard ; theology students as well as masters were required to lecture or to write extensive commentaries on this text as part of their curriculum. Studies in the higher faculties could take up to twelve years for a master's degree or doctorate (initially

7663-407: The same names, a corporate name is a unique identifier only when combined with the name of the state of incorporation". This explains why lawyers in legal papers often expressly refer to a corporation's state of incorporation after the first mention of its name. Some jurisdictions do not allow the use of the word " company " alone to denote corporate status, since the word " company " may refer to

7760-431: The selling of publicly owned (or 'nationalised') services and enterprises to corporations. Deregulation (reducing the regulation of corporate activity) often accompanied privatization as part of a laissez-faire policy. A corporation is, at least in theory, owned and controlled by its members. In a joint-stock company the members are known as shareholders, and each of their shares in the ownership, control, and profits of

7857-500: The state, and they can themselves be responsible for human rights violations. Corporations can be "dissolved" either by statutory operation, the order of the court, or voluntary action on the part of shareholders. Insolvency may result in a form of corporate failure, when creditors force the liquidation and dissolution of the corporation under court order, but it most often results in a restructuring of corporate holdings. Corporations can even be convicted of special criminal offenses in

7954-581: The state, in 1896. In 1899, Delaware followed New Jersey's lead with the enactment of an enabling corporate statute, but Delaware only became the leading corporate state after the enabling provisions of the 1896 New Jersey corporate law were repealed in 1913. The end of the 19th century saw the emergence of holding companies and corporate mergers creating larger corporations with dispersed shareholders. Countries began enacting antitrust laws to prevent anti-competitive practices and corporations were granted more legal rights and protections. The 20th century saw

8051-409: The study of rhetoric. Studied books on logic included Porphyry 's introduction to Aristotelian logic , Gilbert de la Porrée 's De sex principiis and Summulae Logicales by Petrus Hispanus (later Pope John XXI ). The standard work of astronomy was Tractatus de sphaera . Once a Master of Arts degree had been conferred, the student could leave the university or pursue further studies in one of

8148-737: The teachers. The first type was in Bologna , where students hired and paid for the teachers. The second type was in Paris , where teachers were paid by the church. Oxford and Cambridge were predominantly supported by the crown and the state, which helped them survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 and the subsequent removal of all principal Catholic institutions in England. These structural differences created other characteristics. At

8245-444: The three Aristotelian philosophies: physics , metaphysics and moral philosophy . Much of medieval thought in philosophy and theology can be found in scholastic textual commentary because scholasticism was such a popular method of teaching. Aelius Donatus ' Ars grammatica was the standard textbook for grammar; also studied were the works of Priscian and Graecismus by Eberhard of Béthune . Cicero's works were used for

8342-512: The two were synonymous), though again a bachelor's and a licentiate 's degree could be awarded along the way. Courses were offered according to books, not by subject or theme. For example, a course might be on a book by Aristotle , or a book from the Bible . Courses were not elective: the course offerings were set, and everyone had to take the same courses. There were, however, occasional choices as to which teacher to use. Students often entered

8439-673: The university at fourteen to fifteen years of age, though many were older. Classes usually started at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. As students had the legal status of clerics, Canon Law prohibited women from being admitted into universities. Students were afforded the legal protection of the clergy, as well. In this way, no one was allowed to physically harm them; they could only be tried for crimes in an ecclesiastical court , and were thus immune from any corporal punishment . This gave students free rein in urban environments to break secular laws with impunity, which led to many abuses: theft, rape, and murder. Students did not face serious consequences from

8536-653: The university at many places dates back to the 6th century AD. With the increasing growth and urbanization of European society during the 12th and 13th centuries, a demand grew for professional clergy . Following the Gregorian Reform 's emphasis on canon law and the study of the sacraments , bishops formed cathedral schools to train the clergy in canon law, and also in the more secular aspects of religious administration, including logic and disputation for use in preaching and theological discussion, and accounting to control finances more effectively. Pope Gregory VII

8633-411: The widespread reintroduction of Aristotle from Byzantine and Arab scholars . In fact, the European university put Aristotelian and other natural science texts at the center of its curriculum, with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendent." Although it has been assumed that the universities went into decline during

8730-414: The zone due to the concentration of public disorder and filth that lasts until the aftermath and overwhelms the municipal services. Medieval university A medieval university was a corporation organized during the Middle Ages for the purposes of higher education . The first Western European institutions generally considered to be universities were established in present-day Italy, including

8827-410: Was critical in promoting and regulating the concept of modern university, as his 1079 Papal Decree ordered the regulated establishment of cathedral schools that transformed themselves into the first European universities. Learning became essential to advancing in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and teachers also gained prestige. Demand quickly outstripped the capacity of cathedral schools, each of which

8924-401: Was essentially run by one schoolmaster . In addition, tensions rose between the students of cathedral schools and burghers in smaller towns. As a result, cathedral schools migrated to large cities, like Bologna , Rome and Paris . S. F. Alatas has noted some parallels between madrasahs and early European colleges and has inferred that the first universities in Europe were influenced by

9021-407: Was given in Latin and students were expected to converse in that language. The trivium comprised the three subjects that were taught first: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The quadrivium was taught after the preparatory work of the trivium and would lead to the degree of Master of Arts. The curriculum came also to include

9118-484: Was opposed to the notion that businessmen could escape accountability for their role in the failing businesses. In 1892, Germany introduced the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung with a separate legal personality and limited liability even if all the shares of the company were held by only one person. This inspired other countries to introduce corporations of this kind. The last significant development in

9215-454: Was possible only through a royal charter or a private act and was limited, owing to Parliament's jealous protection of the privileges and advantages thereby granted. As a result, many businesses came to be operated as unincorporated associations with possibly thousands of members. Any consequent litigation had to be carried out in the joint names of all the members and was almost impossibly cumbersome. Though Parliament would sometimes grant

9312-534: Was recognised by the same magazine more than 70 years later, when it claimed that, "[t]he economic historian of the future... may be inclined to assign to the nameless inventor of the principle of limited liability, as applied to trade corporations, a place of honour with Watt and Stephenson , and other pioneers of the Industrial Revolution. " These two features – a simple registration procedure and limited liability – were subsequently codified into

9409-417: Was the first speculative bubble the country had seen, but by the end of 1720, the bubble had "burst", and the share price sank from £1,000 to under £100. As bankruptcies and recriminations ricocheted through government and high society, the mood against corporations and errant directors was bitter. In the late 18th century, Stewart Kyd , the author of the first treatise on corporate law in English, defined

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