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

See Examples For:

body corporate

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

Montezuma Moggs understood how to "skulk;" and we all comprehend the fact that to "skulk" judiciously is a fine political feature, saving much of wear and tear to the body corporate.

From Graham's Magazine Vol. XXXII No. 2. February 1848 by Conrad, Robert Taylor

The West Indies are a small limb in the great body corporate of the British Empire, but there is no great and no small in the life of nations.

From The English in the West Indies or, The Bow of Ulysses by Froude, James Anthony

James I. in 1609 confirmed these privileges, giving the burgesses the right to be called a body corporate and to elect twelve aldermen and a common council of twenty-four.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 2 "Camorra" to "Cape Colony" by Various

Security for the integrity of the idea and the vigor of its execution will be found in the creation of a body corporate, or corporation.

From The Jewish State by Lipsky, Louis