[jlawson]

Companies aren't people, legally speaking. This is a bizarre myth that just gets repeated as a sort of mindless anti-corporate shibboleth.

Companies are legal entities which can sign contracts, hold debt, open bank accounts, etc.

So are government agencies, unions, churches, mosques, guilds, charities. Does that means these are all people, legally speaking? For some reason nobody says 'the IRS is a person, legally speaking'.

Companies cannot marry, vote, file taxes as a human, get a passport or driver's license etc, because they are not human, legally speaking. They're just legal entities, as people also are, but of different types.

Don't get confused about the words used in the legal world around 'natural persons' etc; legal usages of words don't carry their common meaning and there are lots of examples of this you know.

[dragonwriter]

> Companies aren't people, legally speaking.

Yes, they are.

> So are government agencies, unions, churches, mosques, guilds, charities. Does that means these are all people, legally speaking?

Yes, all those things have legal personhood.

> Companies cannot marry, vote, file taxes as a human, get a passport or driver's license etc, because they are not human, legally speaking

Being human, legally speaking, is different than being a person, legally speaking.

> Don't get confused about the words used in the legal world around 'natural persons' etc; legal usages of words don't carry their common meaning and there are lots of examples of this you know.

But since you are literally discussing what things are legally, your plea to ignore legal usages is...bizarre.

[jlawson]

Yes, sometimes companies are 'legal persons' when discussed in a legal context as I mentioned.

We are not in a legal context, so to use such language in a normal context without elaboration will obviously mislead most listeners. It is a false statement since it leads the listener to false conclusions.

>Being human, legally speaking, is different than being a person, legally speaking.

It is incumbent to explain this to normal listeners, otherwise you're misleading them.