The invention of the legal entity by Rome, whose very first legal entity in history was the State, is one of the great marvels of legal science. To give substance and life to this marvel, so that it could express itself like natural persons—beings of flesh and blood it seeks to emulate—ingenious jurists turned to the sublime mechanism of representation.
Thus enter the representatives of the legal entity. When they head private law entities, particularly in commercial companies, they are called corporate officers, such as managers, general administrators, chief executives, chairpersons and CEOs, members of the board of directors, and so on.
This new nobility, a new ruling class, occupies a prominent place in the now-classic class struggle, drawing even more attention with recent scandals involving golden parachutes. Like all nobility, the class of corporate officers enjoys many privileges, not always as flashy or noisy. Among these is the delicate matter of their dismissal, which, it has been said, can occur at any time—at least in the case of public limited companies…
