body corporate

English

Etymology

From Middle English body corporat, body corporate (also body incorperate), equivalent to body +‎ corporate (adjective) and modelled on Middle French corps corporat.

Noun

body corporate (plural bodies corporate or body corporates) (law)

1. A corporation, when viewed as a legal person.
   • 1891 November 13, Missions Étrangères Ordinance (Ordinance 11 of 1891; Chapter 369, 1985 Revised Edition)‎^[1], Singapore: Government Printer, published 1986, →OCLC:

     The Procureur at Singapore of La Société des Missions Étrangères to be a body corporate [section title] [section] 2.—(1) The said Nicolas Justin Couvreur and his successors for the time being in the office of Procureur at Singapore of "La Société des Missions Étrangères", duly qualified as hereinafter provided, shall be a body corporate, hereinafter called the corporation, and shall for the purposes of this Ordinance have the name of "The Procureur in Singapore of La Société des Missions Étrangères", and by that name have perpetual succession, and shall and may have and use a corporate seal.

   • 2004, Highways (Obstruction by Body Corporate) Act 2004:

     Section 314 of the 1980 Act provides that a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of a body corporate that has committed particular offences under the 1980 Act will also be guilty of those offences if it can be proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of that officer or is attributable to the neglect of the officer.

   • 2016, IBP, Inc., Canada Company Laws and Regulations Handbook Volume 1:

     A body corporate is the holding body corporate of another if that other body corporate is its subsidiary.

   • 2019, Juliette Overland, Corporate Liability for Insider Trading:

     In relation to the conduct of a corporation, which is usually relevant to the physical element of a criminal offence, s 769B(1) of the Corporations Act provides that conduct engaged in on behalf of a body corporate […] is taken for the purposes of a provision of this Chapter, or a proceeding under this Chapter, to have been engaged in also by the body corporate.

2. (more generally) A legal person.
3. (Australia, New Zealand) An organization of individuals that jointly own a shared housing facility such as a condominium or set of townhouses under a community titles scheme.

   Synonym: (in some areas) owners corporation

   • 2011, Stephen Raff, The Body Corporate Handbook:

     Rules governing the behaviour of residents or tenants are set in two ways: by legislation and by the body corporate creating its own rules of management.

   • 2011, Jeff Ball, Buying An Apartment Off The Plan in Queensland:

     This commission is not paid by the body corporate and does not come out of the levies paid by lot owners. Rather, it is a commission paid by each lot owner of the apartments that the onsite letting agent manages as real estate agent.

   • 2012, Melissa Opie, Find the Right Property, Buy at the Right Price, page 78:

     Units in blocks of more than two are almost always part of a body corporate.

   • 2017, Maria Slade, Buyer Beware: A New Zealand Home Buyer's Guide:

     The owners elect representatives from among themselves to sit on a body corporate committee, and the committee collects an annual levy from the owners. It then uses that levey to run the building, paying for things like maintenance, repairs and insurance.

Translations

corporation — see corporation

legal person — see legal person

organization of individuals owning a shared housing facility

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 業主法團／业主法团 (yèzhǔ fǎtuán)

• Finnish: kiinteistöhalintoyhtiö
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

References

• “Role of the Body Corporate”, in Government of Queensland‎^[2], Brisbane, Qld., 2018 May 21, archived from the original on 11 April 2020.