Skip to main content

Proper Vehicles for Rights


Would it really be too far to argue that corporations should not have rights? More specifically, I would like to argue that corporate persons do not have rights on par with natural persons. I don't think this is really all that implausible. First and foremost, let's think about why natural persons have rights (when they do). The general trend among democratic theorists is to argue that rights claims among democratic citizens arises from something like mutual consent and recognition of one another as autonomous agents. I'm an autonomous agent, and you're an autonomous agent. If we're going to maintain that autonomy and cooperate, we should guarantee one another that we'll respect one another's autonomy. A system of rights is established that guarantees that we can each do as we please as long as we don't interfere with anyone else doing the same.

It's a nice fairytale, and it can be told through the lens of game theory, mutually uninterested contractors, or deliberative rational agency. Kant tells something like this story, as does Mill. Rawls draws his version from both of them. Habermas also tells it. Honestly, despite my usual skepticism of often-told tales, I like this one. Even if it is not a fully accurate description, it sets out a norm that democratic societies should adopt. Democratic citizens should recognize themselves as free, autonomous agents consenting to live among other agents through mutual recognition of that status.

Corporate entities are a different story. They are created as legal fictions to serve the ends of citizens. Insofar as a corporate entity is recognized as a person, it is to allow it to own property, establish credit, and absorb risk for the sake of its human managers, investors, and employees. At the end of the day, a corporate entity is made to serve a person, not the other way around. We do not recognize corporations as autonomous because they are not autonomous in either a strong or weak sense. Corporations do not make decisions. People make decisions and execute them through the corporation. Furthermore, corporate entities are incapable of recognizing their own autonomy or the autonomy of other agents. Corporate entities do not have the capacity for reflection or self-development that natural persons do. As such, they are unsuitable vehicles for rights, entirely unlike natural persons in the relevant capacities.

Nevertheless, we recognize that corporations can have property rights, can establish and maintain formal relationships (ie, client-vendor accounts), and, most crucially, operate businesses. These rights arise from a formal granting by natural persons. The legal fiction is established and recognized because the institution of corporate entities hold advantages for citizens. In other words, corporate rights are parasitic on the rights of natural persons. The rights of natural persons arise from mutual recognition as autonomous agents. One set of rights claims is prior to other, so they should not be treated as on par.

The result is a simple maxim: when considering the rights of natural persons, corporate entities must be treated as having no rights. We can say that natural persons who are stakeholders in the corporation have rights, and they likely also have attendant interests that should be respected. Nevertheless, the corporate entity itself has no rights claims with any value when the rights of a natural person are at stake. We might think of this as the price corporations pay for being allowed to absorb risk for their stakeholders. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RPG Systems: An Analogy with UI Design

The current game in our weekly role-playing group is Deadlands. The previous game was Shadowrun. Both rule systems lie closer to the “chunky” side of the spectrum. Shadowrun has a particular reputation for its complex and somewhat cumbersome rules, and while Deadlands has less overall complexity, the system has a degree of granularity that interrupts play more often than it enhances narration. I enjoy role-playing games because I like participating in a good story. The rules system provides a set of constraints for the characters, the setting, and the conflicts. They help give the narrative structure, a background against which the story will take place. Too few rules, and telling an interesting and well-developed story becomes difficult. Too many rules tend to get in the way of individual scenes or events. With the right balance, it’s possible for the game master, usually me, to be sufficiently fluent in the rules system to resolve any conflict without extended consultation of on
Post a Comment
Read more

The Incredible Lightness of Collaborative Consumption

Last week, we had to exchange our defective futon frame for a new one. The store didn't want to cover transport cost in either direction, so we had to figure out how to get our re-boxed frame from Mountain View to Los Altos. If we had a car, it would not have been very simple since we were aiming to buy a small sedan, nothing that can easily carry the frame and its box. Fortunately, we have a car sharing service that gives us access to a range of vehicles, including a van stored down the street from my building. After work, I grabbed the van, picked up the frame at our place, and then Tara and I drove to the futon to make the swap. I dropped off Tara and the new frame at our place, and then headed back to campus. On returning the van to its parking space, I hopped on a shuttle back to downtown Mountain View. We were able to do all of this because we're not tied to a specific vehicle for all of our transportation needs. The last car we owned was a van, and it came in handy o
Post a Comment
Read more

Carless in California

For various reasons, we do not own a car despite living deep in American car country. The reasons are largely financial; the cost of living in downtown Mountain View crowds car ownership out of our budget. We pay more to live in a pedestrian friendly neighborhood, so we are less able to afford a car. At the same time, I don't need a car to get to work, and Tara doesn't drive, so any car we had would sit in the carport most of the week. Combine that waste of resources with a reluctance to contribute to the Bay Area's traffic congestion, and forgoing car ownership doesn't sound all that bad. Car sharing services allow us to grab a vehicle as long as we plan ahead a bit. The Caltrain provides access to San Francisco. There are convenience stores and cafes in walking distance, so we don't feel the absence of a car too often. Last night was one of the few times where I did. After getting home from work, we wanted a dinner cheaper than nearby delivery options. The n
Post a Comment
Read more