Fietsam v. Hay

Citations

• 122 Ill. 293
• 13 N.E. 501

Syllabus

<p>1. Franchise—defined. The word “franchise” is often used in the sense of privileges generally, but in its more appropriate and legal sense the term is confined to such rights and privileges as are conferred upon corporate bodies by legislative grant. It is nothing more than the right or privilege of being a corporation, and of doing such things, and such things only, as are authorized by the charter.</p> <p>2. Same—in whom vested. It follows, from the very nature of a corporation, that a franchise, or the right to be and act as an artificial body,, is vested in the individuals who compose the corporation, and not in the, corporation itself.</p> <p>3. Same—not the subject of sale or transfer. A corporation, in the absence of statutory authority, has no right or power to sell or transfer the franchise, or any property essential to its exercise, which it has acquired under the law of eminent domain.</p> <p>i. Corporation—defined. A corporation aggregate is an artificial 'being created by law, and composed of individuals who subsist as a body politic, under a special denomination, with the capacity of perpetual succession, and of acting, within the scope of its charter, as a natural person. It has, for most purposes, a distinct identity from that of the individual corporators.</p>