"Corporations in their present form have existed since at least the organization of the British East India Company, and arguably earlier. Thomas Jefferson in fact wanted very strict limits placed on corporations because he feared the situation we have today. Nowhere did I state or imply that corporations didn’t… Read More exist prior to 1887. In fact, state corporate law prior to 1887 limited the existence of a corporation to a term of years, outlawed their interference in government, and even included the “corporate death penalty” (revocation of the corporate charter) for malfeasance. They even required corporations to serve the “public interest. Until 1887, every case of corporations asserting that they have human rights was rebuffed by the courts. After 1887, because of a headnote, the floodgate opened and ushered in the “charter-mongering” era. By your definition, all of this is intrusion by government in the “free market.””
I was having this discussion on another forum. And I cannot find anything on the British East India Company. In any case, does his argument hold water?