Self-owning corporations are legally possible
I&#x27;m the law professor who developed the ideas discussed in the quoted article.  A friend just brought this thread to my attention.  The full arguments, which address most of the concerns laid out in these comments, are available here:<p>(1) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ssrn.com&#x2F;abstract=2366197" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ssrn.com&#x2F;abstract=2366197</a>
(2) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ssrn.com&#x2F;abstract=2758222" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ssrn.com&#x2F;abstract=2758222</a><p>(The article at the top of this thread, by Prof. LoPucki, is a response to these two articles.)<p>I&#x27;m happy to answer questions if that would be useful, although of course I can&#x27;t give legal advice.  In general, there&#x27;s a tremendous amount of misunderstanding about LLCs and about the law of legal organizations, both in the US and elsewhere -- even among lawyers!  It&#x27;s fair to say that US organizational law tends to be more flexible than similar laws in other countries, and my point in these articles it that it&#x27;s flexible enough to do surprising things.<p>In the articles, I specifically discuss RULLCA (the basis for the LLC laws in something like 17 US states, with that number growing), as well as NY&#x27;s LLC law, and I show why a lot of people&#x27;s instinctive comments here (and elsewhere!) are legally mistaken.  For example, the statutes in these states specifically contemplate memberless LLCs, and indeed memberless LLCs are not a crazy or unconventional possibility.  In various wealth-management contexts, they are routine.  That LLCs could persist without members for indefinite periods is more controversial, but my articles explain why the current statutes do permit them.<p>Of course, legislatures could stop all this if they wanted to.  The LLCs statutes are just statutes.  But you need just one jurisdiction to allow my technique for it to enable AIs to interact with the legal system in quite significant ways.  Also, it&#x27;s not entirely clear what it would mean to stop an LLC from doing what I propose, or whether judges would practically wish to do that.  For example, suppose you follow my technique and then your AI buys a house.  What would it mean to say that the LLC isn&#x27;t legally &quot;valid&quot;?  Would the original owner get the house back and also keep the purchase money?  (There wouldn&#x27;t necessarily be anyone to return it to.)  Developing sound institutional solutions to complex questions about legal organizations is not an easy problem.<p>The common-law judges have always been keen to permit new structures when they are useful.  One-person legal companies were themselves controversial not too long ago, but they&#x27;re commonplace today.  In my articles, I give reasons supporting the usefulness of zero-person LLCs.