Yes, it’s weird semantics but I think it’s become a way to get more than just a small fraction of the legal rights real persons enjoy and are entitled to under law. I would challenge the claim “This is universally agreed to be a good thing”. True, there are some very clear benefits to granting corporation the status of a de jure person—a central party to allow contract. But we get a lot of costs that go with that (ability to avoid personal accountability, undue influence in public policy) when taking the legal fiction beyond what was necessary.
Granting ships and rivers “personhood” (and I would actually include corporation as a person in this too) seems sloppy/lazy at best (probably could have gotten to where you needed to get without such confusion) and intentional corruption of an idea at worst to some alternative gain that would have been rejected outside draping a veil of “personhood” for legal purposes.
Yes, it’s weird semantics but I think it’s become a way to get more than just a small fraction of the legal rights real persons enjoy and are entitled to under law. I would challenge the claim “This is universally agreed to be a good thing”. True, there are some very clear benefits to granting corporation the status of a de jure person—a central party to allow contract. But we get a lot of costs that go with that (ability to avoid personal accountability, undue influence in public policy) when taking the legal fiction beyond what was necessary.
Granting ships and rivers “personhood” (and I would actually include corporation as a person in this too) seems sloppy/lazy at best (probably could have gotten to where you needed to get without such confusion) and intentional corruption of an idea at worst to some alternative gain that would have been rejected outside draping a veil of “personhood” for legal purposes.
I thought that was a very obviously and mildly funny joke.