[grondilu]

> Corporations are legal fictions. They exist through the power and authority of the State, their contracts are enacted and enforced through agents of the Courts.

When I enter a shop there are a few things I can not do. I can't steal, threaten the staff or set the place in fire for instance. That does not mean that the concept of a shop does not exist. Corporations are nothing but an association of people working together and/or sharing the ownership of means of production. The fact that the Law puts a frame around this organisation does not stop it from existing. The concept preexists to what Law says it is.

If you deny it it's probably because that suits your political views so I don't have much hope in changing your mind about it.

PS. Someone who has a job also makes a contract that is enforced by the State, so do you think employment is a legal fiction as well?

[dougabug]

You certainly can steal, threaten the staff, or set the place on fire. To the extent that shop and its people are recognized and protected by laws and government agencies such as the police, you'll likely face serious repercussions. But say the shop is liquidated in Chapter 7 proceedings by Bankruptcy Court, appeals exhausted, ownership of all assets transferred, the building condemned. The shop no longer exists, and in fact may be lawfully demolished.

You could setup a table in the middle of a busy intersection, put some items on it, and declare it to be a shop. That does't make it a shop (or for that matter yours).

What is "ownership" absent law? Is it something you can measure, like gravity, velocity, field strength, pH or temperature? Without the law, a manifestation of government, ownership is simply a belief (which is the antecedent of the law).