Legal Definitions - incorporamus

Incorporamus is a historical Latin term that translates to "We incorporate." In historical legal contexts, particularly within royal charters or letters patent, this word or similar phrasing indicated the sovereign's formal intent and act of creating a new corporation or legal entity.

It signified the moment a group of individuals or an institution was officially recognized as a distinct legal body, separate from its individual members. This legal separation granted the entity certain rights and responsibilities, such as the ability to own property, enter into contracts, and sue or be sued, often with perpetual existence.

• Example 1: The Royal Colonial Trading Company

  Imagine a group of merchants in 17th-century England seeking to establish a large-scale trading operation in the New World. To gain official recognition, protection, and the ability to raise significant capital, they would petition the monarch for a royal charter. If the charter was granted, it would contain language reflecting the sovereign's decree, such as "By these presents, we incorporate..." or similar phrasing where incorporamus would represent the formal act of creating the "Royal Colonial Trading Company" as a distinct legal entity. This act would grant the company the legal standing to own ships, acquire land in the colonies, and conduct trade as a single, perpetual body, rather than just a collection of individual merchants.

• Example 2: The Borough of Newhaven

  Consider a growing settlement in medieval England that wished to gain greater autonomy and self-governance from a local lord or the crown. The community might petition the king for a charter to become a self-governing borough. The royal charter, upon its issuance, would use language embodying the spirit of incorporamus to formally establish the "Borough of Newhaven" as a corporate body. This meant the borough, as an entity, could then own common lands, establish its own courts, levy taxes, and manage its affairs, rather than these powers residing solely with individual residents or a feudal lord.

• Example 3: St. Jude's Hospital for the Poor

  In the 18th century, a philanthropic group might have sought to establish a permanent hospital to care for the indigent. To ensure the hospital's long-term stability and ability to hold endowments and property independently of its founders, they would seek a royal charter. The charter would formally declare, through language like incorporamus, the creation of "St. Jude's Hospital for the Poor" as a body corporate. This legal act ensured the hospital's perpetual existence, allowing it to continue its charitable mission even as individual trustees or benefactors changed over time, holding assets and managing operations in its own name.