body corporate

American  

noun

Law.

1. a person, association, or group of persons legally incorporated; corporation.

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body corporate British  

noun

1. law a group of persons incorporated to carry out a specific enterprise See corporation

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Etymology

Origin of body corporate

First recorded in 1490–1500

Example Sentences

If a library receives endowments, money gifts or legacies, they are held and administered by the trustees as a body corporate, the same as the funds annually appropriated for library maintenance and increase.

From A Book for All Readers An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books and the Formation of Public and Private Libraries by Spofford, Ainsworth Rand

Marsham had pounced upon a weak point in the Consolidated's armor and pierced deep into the body corporate.

From The Rapids by Sullivan, Alan

A man of war, trained from childhood in martial tactics, and in the use of weapons, and of a singular courage and determination, you, Standish, are the strong right arm of the body corporate.

From Standish of Standish A story of the Pilgrims by Austin, Jane G. (Jane Goodwin)

They no longer belong to a class, but to a body corporate.

From Harvard Classics Volume 28 Essays English and American by Eliot, Charles William

An Act of incorporation had been obtained during the session, whereby it was enacted that York should be constituted a body corporate and politic by the name of the City of Toronto.

From The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion by Dent, John Charles