Slow and Steady Wins the Race!
ECONOMICS REPORT - How a Corporation Is Like a Person
2010 年 3 月 5 日经济 报道 – 公司类似于自然人。
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
这里是 VOA 特别英语的经济报道
Recently the United States Supreme Court decided a big case about political speech. Political speech is considered the most protected form of free speech under the Constitution.
最近，美国高等法院裁决了政治演说的大案例。政治演说被视为宪法中言论自己的最大保护形式。
The case was Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission. The question was this: With political speech, do corporations have the same rights as people?
这一案例是（非盈利组织）联合公民对联邦选举委员会。问题是：就政治演说而言，公司与自然人是否具有相同的权利？
By a vote of five to four, the conservative majority on the court decided yes. Companies, labor unions and other organizations may now spend as they wish on independent efforts to elect or defeat candidates.
对五票对四票的保守多数，法庭裁定“通过”。公司、工会及其它组织可以按自愿地独立开支，选举或击败候选人。
The ruling is based on the idea in the United States and many other countries that a corporation is a legal person.
这一裁定是基于美国及许多其它国家均有的“公司是一个法定自然人”的理念。
Historian Jeff Sklansky says a slow shift to personhood for American companies began with a Supreme Court ruling in eighteen nineteen. It said states cannot interfere with private contracts creating corporations.
历史学家 Jeff Sklansky 说，美国公司缓慢演变为自然人始于 1819 年的一项高等法院裁定。该裁定规定，各州不得干扰设立公司的私人契约。
In the ruling, Chief Justice John Marshall described a corporation as an "artificial being" that is a "creature of the law."
在这一裁定中，美国高等法院首席法官将公司描述为“法律产物（人工人）”。
The ruling was unpopular. It came as Americans resisted big corporations like the First Bank of the United States, chartered by Congress. Some states passed laws permitting themselves to change or even cancel corporate charters.
这一裁定并不太见待。这一裁定的时机正好是美国人抵制大公司，如美国国会特许的美国第一银行。有些州立法，允许改变甚至取缔公司执照。
After the Civil War in the eighteen sixties, the Fourteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution. It provides that no state may "deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law ... " If a corporation is legally a person, then states cannot limit corporate rights without due process of law either.
在 1860 年代美国内战之后，宪法新增了第 14 修正案。第 14 修正案规定，未经正当的法律程序，各州不得“剥夺任何自然人的生命、自由或财产 …… ”。如果公司是法定自然人，那么未经正当的法律程序，各州也不得限制公司的权利。
At first, corporations were not fully recognized as persons. But Jeff Sklansky at Oregon State University says that changed.
首先，公司过去未完全被认可为自然人。但是， 俄勒冈州立大学 的 Jeff Sklansky 说，这有了变化。
JEFF SKLANSKY: "The general direction of the Supreme Court and the federal courts in general was to recognize corporations as persons with the same Fourteenth Amendment rights as individuals."
JEFF SKLANSKY ：“高等法院和联邦法院的总体方向是认可公司具有个人一样的第 14 修正案的权利。”
Yet corporations have a right that real people do not: limited liability. For example, a corporation can face civil or criminal fines and individual lawbreakers can go to jail. But limited liability means the actions of a corporation are not the responsibility of its shareholders.
但是，公司具有真正自然人所没有的权利，即有限责任。例如，公司可面临民事或刑事罚款，而个人违法者可进监狱。但是，有限责任意味着公司的行为不是股东的责任。
Jeff Sklansky says the nineteenth century development of limited liability helped shape the modern corporation.
Jeff Sklansky 说， 19 世纪制定的有限责任促成了现代公司的形成。
JEFFREY SKLANSKY: "That is also crucial to allowing corporations a kind of independent personhood and separating ownership from control or ownership from management. So [the idea is] that I can invest in a corporation without becoming liable for all its debts. That’s a really big deal. Without it, anything like the modern stock market, I'd say, is impossible."
JEFFREY SKLANSKY ：“允许公司具有独立自然人资格并将控制权或所有权与管理分开，这也是非常重要的。因此，（这一理念是）我可以投资一家公司，而不对其所有债务负责。这极其重要。我敢说，没有这一条，就不可能有类似于现代股票市场之类的事物。”
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Next week, more on corporations and the law. I'm Steve Ember.
这是 Mario Ritter 编写的 VOA 特别英语经济报道；下周还有更多关于公司与法律的报道。我是 Steve Ember 。
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