A college is a variety of the

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

, literally a "body" (Latin: ''corpus, corporis'') created by a

legal fiction A legal fiction is a construct used in the law where a thing is taken to be true, which is not in fact true, in order to achieve an outcome. Legal fictions can be employed by the courts or found in legislation. Legal fictions are different from ...

with its own

legal personality Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person (in this sen ...

, able to act largely as a

natural person In jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some Commonwealth countries, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own legal personality) that is an individual human being, distinguished from the br ...

as regards the

law of contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

. Thus it can enter into contracts for sale, purchase and employment and can sue and be sued in a court of law, and can own real estate.

Etymology

The word "college" is contracted from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

compound word ''cum-lego'', from the verb ''lego, legere, legi, lectum'', "to collect, gather together, pick", plus the preposition ''cum'', "with", thus meaning "selected together". Thus "colleagues" are fellow members of a college, literally "persons who have been selected together". In

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

a ''

collegium A (: ) or college was any association in ancient Rome that Corporation, acted as a Legal person, legal entity. Such associations could be civil or religious. The word literally means "society", from ("colleague"). They functioned as social cl ...

'' was a "body, guild, corporation united in colleagueship; of magistrates, praetors, tribunes, priests, augurs; a political club or trade guild".

Examples

Mediaeval

*Colleges of priests. In mediaeval England there were colleges of priests, for example in

chantry chapel A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Church service, Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantr ...

s, which were financed by a trust fund, usually established by the will of the deceased, for the purpose of singing masses to speed the soul of the deceased through

purgatory In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul ...

;

Modern survivals

The following are all groups of persons "selected in common" to perform a specified function and appointed by a monarch, founder or other person in authority: *The

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

in England, originally the "Guild of Surgeons Within the City of London"; *The

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

in the City of London, a body of

herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

s enforcing heraldic law; *An

electoral college An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

, to elect representatives, etc. *

College of education In the United States and Canada, a school of education (or college of education; ed school) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences e ...

, originally simply a body created for that purpose, for example

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

was founded in 1440 by

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

of King Henry VI for the constitution of a college ''of Fellows, priests, clerks, choristers, poor scholars, and old poor men, with one master or governor'', whose duty it shall be to instruct these scholars and any others who may resort thither from any part of England in the knowledge of letters, and especially of grammar, without payment".Cust, Lionel, ''History of Eton College'', 1899, p.5
/ref> *

College of Bishops College of Bishops, also known as the Ordo of Bishops, is a term used in the Catholic Church to denote the collection of those bishops who are in communion with the Pope. Under Canon Law, a college is a collection (Latin collegium) of persons ...

, the body of all bishops of the Catholic Church; *

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

, the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church;

References

Corporations by type Organizations by type

Etymology

Examples

Mediaeval

Modern survivals

See also

References