有限公司(corporation)
经过国家注册批准，为经营工商业而组合人力和物料资源的一种法定的组织形式。有限公司与其他两种主要的企业所有制形式--独资企业和合夥企业--不同，具有许多显着的特点使它比较灵活，适合於大规模经济活动。其中最主要的特点是：有限责任；股票可转让权，不用依法改组企业，投资人可透过转让股票，方便地将其在企业中的权益转让给他人；法人资格，公司本身就是假想中的「人」，它享有法律地位，可以公司的名义上诉和被起诉、签订合同和拥有财产；无限持续期︰公司具有不受任何创办人参加时间限制的无限寿命。股东就是公司的所有人，他们透过投资购买了企业收益中的分额，而在名义上具有对公司经理人员使用其投资相应的控制权。20世纪时，直接股东控制已变得越来越不可能了，更何况那些大公司的股东已达到数以万计。委托投票经营已被合法化，一种补救的措施是由领薪金的经理人员来主控公司及其资产。参阅multinational corporation。
English version：
corporation
Specific legal form of organization of persons and material resources, chartered by the state, for the purpose of conducting business. As contrasted with the other two major forms of business ownership, the sole proprietorship and the partnership, the corporation has several characteristics that make it a more flexible instrument for large-scale economic activity. Chief among these are limited liability, transferability of shares (rights in the enterprise may be transferred readily from one investor to another without constituting legal reorganization), juridical personality (the corporation itself as a fictive “person” has legal standing and may thus sue and be sued, make contracts, and hold property), and indefinite duration (the life of the corporation may extend beyond the participation of any of its founders). Its owners are the shareholders, who purchase with their investment a share in the proceeds of the enterprise and who are nominally entitled to a measure of control over its financial management. Direct shareholder control became increasingly impossible in the 20th century, however, as the largest corporations came to have tens of thousands of shareholders. The practice of proxy voting by management was legalized and adopted as a remedy, and today salaried managers exercise strong control over the corporation and its assets. See also multinational corporation.