International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington - Corporations, People, And Legal Fictions

Legally, a corporation is considered a person under U.S. law. That is why corporations are covered by laws that govern personal jurisdiction. As Chief Justice Stone recalled in his majority decision for International Shoe, " . . . the corporate personality is a fiction, although a fiction intended to be acted upon as though it were a fact." Under our federal system, the Constitution treats each state as its own sovereignty. Therefore, when talking about International Shoe--a U.S. company--the Court nevertheless referred to it as "a foreign corporation," meaning "foreign" to the state of Washington.