by Anna Von Reitz
One of the concepts that people are having a lot of trouble with is the
difference between an unincorporated business and a corporation---- both are
"corporate" in the sense of being fictitious, but one is engaged in private
trade under full commercial liability and accrues only private property and the
other seeks the benefit of limited liability and incurs the obligations to the
State and accrues income by definition.
ABC Company does not equal ABC Corporation.
ABC Company is a "corporate entity" and can do business with ABC
Corporation without breaking the "in kind" rule of contracts, but a living man
named John Raymond Doe acting as a living man cannot. He can only contract with
other living men.
This is what necessitated the adoption of "doing business as" names at the
beginning of the 20th Century. More and more businesses were operating as
corporations and those corporations wanted to be able to deal directly with
living customers who were NOT organized as any kind of business entity.
Likewise, many living people wanted the goods and services provided by
corporations, but did not have a company or company name that would allow them
to do business with a corporation.
So the "State of_________" stepped in and began the process of issuing
"doing business as" Names conceived as foreign situs trust franchises doing
business within the fictitious "State of Ohio" and subject to the statutory laws
of the "State of Ohio".