A. Unless its articles of incorporation provide otherwise, every corporation has perpetual duration and succession in its corporate name and has the same powers as an individual to do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its business and affairs, including, without limitation, power:

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Terms Used In Virginia Code 13.1-627

  • Articles of incorporation: means all documents constituting, at any particular time, the charter of a corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Entity: includes any domestic or foreign corporation; any domestic or foreign nonstock corporation; any domestic or foreign unincorporated entity; any estate or trust; and any state, the United States and any foreign government. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Individual: means a natural person. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Interest: means either or both of the following rights under the organic law governing an unincorporated entity:

    1. See Virginia Code 13.1-603

  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: includes an individual and an entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. Source: FDIC
  • Shareholder: means a record shareholder. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • Shares: means the units into which the proprietary interests in a corporation are divided. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
  • written: means any information in the form of a document. See Virginia Code 13.1-603

1. To sue and be sued, complain and defend in its corporate name;

2. To have a corporate seal, which may be altered at will, and to use it, or a facsimile of it, by impressing or affixing it or in any other manner reproducing it;

3. To make and amend bylaws, not inconsistent with its articles of incorporation or with the laws of the Commonwealth;

4. To purchase, receive, lease, or otherwise acquire, and own, hold, improve, use and otherwise deal with, real or personal property, or any legal or equitable interest in property, wherever located;

5. To sell, convey, mortgage, pledge, lease, exchange, and otherwise dispose of all or any part of its property;

6. To purchase, receive, subscribe for, or otherwise acquire, own, hold, vote, use, sell, mortgage, lend, pledge, or otherwise dispose of, and deal in and with shares or other interests in, or obligations of, any other entity;

7. To make contracts and guarantees, incur liabilities, borrow money, issue its notes, bonds, and other securities and obligations, which may be convertible into or include the option to purchase other securities or property of the corporation, and secure any of its obligations by mortgage or pledge of any of its property, franchises, or income;

8. To lend money, invest, and reinvest its funds, and receive and hold real and personal property as security for repayment;

9. To conduct its business, locate offices, and exercise the powers granted by this chapter in or outside of the Commonwealth;

10. To elect directors and appoint officers, employees, and agents of the corporation, define their duties, fix their compensation, and lend them money and credit;

11. To pay pensions and establish pension plans, pension trusts, profit sharing plans, share bonus plans, share option plans, share purchase plans and benefit and incentive plans for any or all of the current or former directors, officers, employees, and agents of the corporation or any of its subsidiaries;

12. To make donations for the public welfare or for religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes, except that corporations subject to regulation as to rates by the Commission shall not have power to make donations in excess of five percent of net income computed before federal and state taxes on income and without taking into account any deduction for gifts;

13. Except as otherwise provided in subsection B, to be a promoter, partner, member, associate, or manager of any partnership, joint venture, trust, or other entity;

14. To make payments or donations, or do any other act, not inconsistent with this section or any other applicable law, that furthers the business and affairs of the corporation;

15. To pay compensation, or to pay additional compensation, to any or all directors, officers and employees on account of services previously rendered to the corporation, whether or not an agreement to pay such compensation was made before such services were rendered;

16. To insure for its benefit the life of any of its directors, officers or employees, to insure the life of any shareholder for the purpose of acquiring at his death shares owned by such shareholder and to continue such insurance after the relationship terminates;

17. To cease its corporate activities and surrender its corporate franchise; and

18. To have and exercise all powers necessary or convenient to effect any or all of the purposes for which the corporation is organized.

B. Each corporation other than a public service company, a banking corporation, an insurance corporation, a savings institution, or a credit union shall have power to enter into partnership agreements, joint ventures, or other associations of any kind with any person or persons. The foregoing limitations on public service companies, banking corporations, insurance corporations, savings institutions, and credit unions shall not apply to the purchase by any such entity of any security of a limited liability company. The term “public service company” as used in this subsection shall not apply to railroads, which shall have the power given other corporations generally by this subsection. The foregoing limitation on public service companies shall not apply to partnership agreements, joint ventures, or other associations where the purposes of such partnerships, joint ventures, or other associations are activities that the public service company could lawfully engage in without participation in a partnership, joint venture, or association and will require an equity investment by the public service company and debt with recourse to the public service company of an amount not more than one percent of its net equity as measured at the end of the most recent fiscal year so long as all such partnerships, joint ventures, and associations collectively will require an equity investment by the public service company and debt with recourse to the public service company of less than five percent of the net equity of the public service company as measured at the end of the most recent fiscal year. Upon application by the public service company, the Commission may approve any partnership agreements, joint ventures, or other associations that exceed the equity investment criteria set forth above. The foregoing limitation on public service companies shall not apply to partnership agreements, joint ventures, or other associations between telephone companies and telephone companies, whether in corporate or other form, or between telephone companies and commonly owned affiliates of telephone companies for the purpose of providing domestic cellular radio telecommunication service.

C. Privileges and powers conferred and restrictions and requirements imposed by other titles of the Code on railroads or other public service companies, banking corporations, insurance corporations, savings and loan associations, credit unions, industrial loan associations, or other special types of corporations, shall not be deemed repealed or amended by any provision of this chapter except where specifically so provided.

D. Each corporation that is deemed a private foundation, as defined in § 509 of the Internal Revenue Code, unless its articles of incorporation expressly provide otherwise, shall distribute its income and, if necessary, principal, for each taxable year at such time and in such manner as not to subject such corporation to tax under § 4942 of the Internal Revenue Code. Such corporation shall not engage in any act of self-dealing, as defined in § 4941(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, retain any excess business holdings, as defined in § 4943(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, make any investments in such manner as to give rise to liability for the tax imposed by § 4944 of the Internal Revenue Code, or make any taxable expenditures, as defined in § 4945(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. This subsection shall apply to any corporation organized after December 31, 1969, under this chapter or under the Virginia Stock Corporation Act (§ 13.1-601 et seq.) enacted by Chapter 428 of the 1956 Acts of General Assembly; and to any corporation organized before January 1, 1970, only for its taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 1972, unless the exceptions provided in § 508(e)(2)(A) or (B) of the Internal Revenue Code shall apply or unless the board of directors of such corporation shall elect that such restrictions as contained in this subsection shall not apply by filing written notice of such election with the Attorney General and the clerk of the Commission on or before December 31, 1971. Each reference to a section of the Internal Revenue Code made in this subsection shall include future amendments to such Code sections and corresponding provisions of future internal revenue laws.

Code 1950, § 13.1-2.1; 1975, c. 500; 1977, c. 508; 1983, c. 534; 1984, c. 406; 1985, c. 522; 1993, cc. 61, 143, 419; 1994, c. 452; 1996, cc. 16, 257; 2005, c. 765; 2015, c. 611; 2019, c. 734.

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