Many debates have arisen from the fact that corporations should be treated as natural persons, meaning by this that they may enter into contracts, buy and sell land, commit torts, sue and be sued, and particularly important that they also have legal rights such as, equal protection, due process, freedom of press[1], and as incredible as it might sound the right to participate in political activities either making contributions or spending money to influence voters. One of the most controversial aspect is clearly the one regarding rights ,” Corporations, then, are arguing that they have rights, in particular the rights to autonomy and economic freedom. Although they may be demanding only legal rights to autonomy, legal rights, must have a moral basis if they are to be justified claims. So if corporations claim legal rights to freedom and autonomy, they must claim these are moral rights as well. If corporations have moral rights, then they have the obligations connected with such rights, and they can be held accountable, morally accountable.”[2].
So now we have clear that by being granted some rights , corporations also have obligations which are often refer to as “corporate social responsibility” that implies the implementation of corporate initiatives to support social causes and to counteract what at some extent has been caused by their actions, pollution, layoffs ,industrial accidents and economic crisis just to name a few[3]. Even though many corporations seem to make little or no efforts to become “socially responsible “, plenty of examples can be listed to illustrate how corporations fulfill their social obligations as “moral persons” and simultaneously benefit from them. Green peace implemented “the guide to greener electronics “ the goal of this guide is to get companies to clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances, to take back and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete. And to reduce the climate impacts of their operations and products. According to this guide ,Nokia, Sony Ericson, Phillips ,Motorola and Apple were ranked this year as the five most eco friendly[4] .
I personally think that corporations should not be entitled to the same legal rights as individuals but two things must be taken into consideration , first, as long as corporations comply with the moral obligations that carry out such legal rights this status is not negative since they have the power to make a change that will have a huge impact in the world, and secondly, even if corporations have the right to be treated as natural persons, There is distinction legally speaking and some of the rights that humans have are not extended to corporations, they don't have the same but similar treatment, as Peter French states in his article "the corporation as a moral person" :
"If future generations develop laws governing the activities of robots, laws similar to the ones governing persons, this will not make robots people".
greenpeace. (2010, may). Retrieved 10 24, 2010``, from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/Guide-to-Greener-Electronics/
Marck Achbar, J. A. (2009, summer). The corporation. Retrieved 10 24, 2010, from http://www.thecorporation.com/index.cfm?page_id=314
Werhane, P. H. (1985). Persons, Rights,. chicago: prentice hall inc.
William B Werther, J. D. (2011). strategic corporate social responsability, stakeholders in a global environment. california: SAGE publications.
Peter French, "The Corporation as a Moral Person," American Philosophical Quarterly,16 (1979), p. 210.
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