Companies Act 1993

Incorporation - Separate legal personality

15: Separate legal personality

You could also call this:

“Companies are separate legal entities from their owners”

When a company is created, it becomes its own legal person. This means the company is separate from the people who own it (called shareholders). The company can do things on its own, like make agreements or own property. It’s as if the company is a person in the eyes of the law, but it’s not a real person like you or me. The company stays alive as its own legal person until it’s taken off the official list of companies in New Zealand. This list is called the New Zealand register.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM320115.

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“Official document proving a company's legal existence”


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“Companies have broad powers but must follow legal and constitutional limits”

Part 2 Incorporation
Separate legal personality

15Separate legal personality

  1. A company is a legal entity in its own right separate from its shareholders and continues in existence until it is removed from the New Zealand register.