The word 'Company' is an amalgamation of the Latin word 'Com' meaning "with or together" and 'Pains' meaning "bread". Originally, it referred to a group of persons who took their meals together. A company is nothing but a group of persons who have come together or who have contributed money for some common person and who have incorporated themselves into a distinct legal entity in the form of a company for that purpose. Under Halsbury’s Laws of England, the term "company" has been defined as a collection of many individuals united into one body under special domination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form and vested by the policies of law with the capacity of acting in several respect as an individual, particularly for taking and granting of property, for contracting obligation and for suing and being sued, for enjoying privileges and immunities in common and exercising a variety of political rights, more or less extensive, according to the design of its institution or the powers upon it, either at the time of its creation or at any subsequent period of its existence. However, the Supreme Court of India has held in the case of State Trading Corporation of India v/s CTO that a company cannot have the status of a citizen under the Constitution of India. A company as an entity has several distinct features which together make it a unique organization.
